Incredible photos from space reveal the biggest news stories on Earth in 2017

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The year 2017 seemed to have a constant flow of monumental world events.

The most important stories included a torrent of crippling natural disasters, jaw-dropping technological achievements, and geopolitical actions that ranged from uplifting to egregious.

While journalists scrambled on the ground, orbiting satellites documented these scenes in breathtaking detail from space.

To reflect on the year's most significant developments, DigitalGlobe — a satellite-imaging company that uses a fleet of orbiting satellites to take 100 terabytes' worth of new pictures of Earth each day — released a collection of remarkable space-based photography.

"We saw tragedies unfold, like the famine in Africa and Yemen, and we saw moments of great progress, like the strategic victories over the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq," Dan Jablonsky, the president of DigitalGlobe, said in an emailed press release. "DigitalGlobe's satellite constellation had a front-row seat to these and thousands of other impactful events in 2017."

Below is a selection of some of the images released by the company and what they reveal.

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Hurricanes triggered massive flooding and devastation.

Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria inflicted record-breaking storm damage and flooding across the Gulf Coast and Caribbean.

"This image, taken on August 30 by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite, shows the extensive flooding in Brookshire, Texas," the company said.

The Great American eclipse of 2017 swept across the US.

The US saw its first continental-crossing total solar eclipse in 99 years this summer. The event clogged roadways but brought stunning images of an astronomical event that many people rarely see.

"This image, captured by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite on August 19, shows an encampment of eclipse watchers in Big Summit Prairie, Oregon," the company said.

Wildfires scorched California.

California has been ravaged by two major wildfire events: One in Napa and Sonoma counties in October, and an ongoing disaster in and around Los Angeles. Collectively, these fires have killed dozens of people, wiped out thousands of homes, and scorched hundreds of thousands of acres.

"This image, taken by DigitalGlobe's GeoEye-1 satellite on October 11, shows the badly burned Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa," DigitalGlobe said.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider