Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell images by licensing them to governments and businesses such as Apple Maps and Google Maps.

The first images from space were taken on sub-orbital flights. The US-launched V-2 flight on October 24, 1946, took one image every 1.5 seconds. With an apogee of 65 miles (105 km), these photos were from five times higher than the previous record, the 13.7 miles (22 km) by the Explorer II balloon mission in 1935. The first satellite (orbital) photographs of Earth were made on August 14, 1959, by the U.S. Explorer 6. The first satellite photographs of the Moon might have been made on October 6, 1959, by the Soviet satellite Luna 3, on a mission to photograph the far side of the Moon. The Blue Marble photograph was taken from space in 1972, and has become very popular in the media and among the public. Also in 1972 the United States started the Landsat program, the largest program for acquisition of imagery of Earth from space. In 1977, the first real time satellite imagery was acquired by the United States' KH-11 satellite system. The most recent Landsat satellite, Landsat 9, was launched on 27 September 2021.

All satellite images produced by NASA are published by NASA Earth Observatory and are freely available to the public. Several other countries have satellite imaging programs, and a collaborative European effort launched the ERS and Envisat satellites carrying various sensors. There are also private companies that provide commercial satellite imagery. In the early 21st century satellite imagery became widely available when affordable, easy to use software with access to satellite imagery databases was offered by several companies and organizations.

Satellite images have numerous applications in a variety of fields.

Less mainstream uses include anomaly hunting, a criticized investigation technique involving the search of satellite images for unexplained phenomena.

The spectrum of satellite images is diverse, including visible light, near-infrared light, infrared light and radar, and many others. This wide range of light frequencies can provide researchers with large volumes of useful and rich information. In addition to the satellite applications mentioned above, these data can serve as powerful educational tools, advance scientific research and promote a deeper understanding of our environment. This shows that satellite imagery provides rich information and can promote global development.

There are five types of resolution when discussing satellite imagery in remote sensing: spatial, spectral, temporal, radiometric and geometric. Campbell (2002) defines these as follows:

The resolution of satellite images varies depending on the instrument used and the altitude of the satellite's orbit. For example, the Landsat archive offers repeated imagery at 30 meter resolution for the planet, but most of it has not been processed from the raw data. Landsat 7 has an average return period of 16 days. For many smaller areas, images with resolution as fine as 41 cm can be available.