Happy New Year -- from space!

In case you needed a reminder of the vast, beautiful planet we live on, NASA shared this breathtaking photo of Earth as seen from space on January 1.

Somewhere down there, you're one of the 7.2 billion people who are living on planet Earth this year, according to a population projection from the United Nations.

The gorgeous image was captured by the eastern Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, which is used for storm tracking and meteorology research.