Extraordinary satellite images show an ordinary day in Britain - as seen from space

This is Britain - but not as we know it. These extraordinary satellite images reveal what our nation looks like from the skies.

From flight paths and road networks to telephone exchanges across London, the stunning aerial shots paint a striking new perspective on the British Isles.

Everything from London taxi journeys to internet activity across the nation are replicated in the breathtaking images.

Using the latest satellite technology and innovations in aerial photography, the pictures will be shown for the first time on 'Britain from Above', a new BBC series that starts this Sunday.

Presenter Andrew Marr takes to the skies by plane, helicopter, microlight and even parachute to give viewers a bird's eye view of landmarks across the UK.

The programme uses satellite data and the latest computer generated imagery to demonstrate how Britain keeps moving - tracking the planes that enter our airspace, the ships that cross the English Channel and the cars that travel our streets, all in the space of a single day.

Series director Cassian Harrison, said: 'It has been amazing to work with cameras mounted on so many helicopters and planes.

'The one disadvantage is that when we film we're contending so much with the weather.

'It has been a battle with the elements, but a brilliant one, working out how many different ways it is possible to get up in the sky and look down at the nation.

'In a way, though, the biggest privilege is being able to look down on the world you know.

'It's like Google Earth, but for real.'

'Britain From Above' begins on BBC1 on Sunday at 9pm.

Bizarre ball of twisted metal space junk falls from the sky into farmer's backyard

It might not be much to look at, but this ball of twisted metal has been all the way into space - and back again.

James Stirton, who found it in his backyard, was initially mystified by the object's appearance. The 20kg heap of tangled carbon fibre and steel stuck out like a sore thumb from the dry scrubland of his cattle farm in Queensland, Australia.

"I was just riding along on my bike and it was beside the road, beside a track out in the paddock," Mr Stirton said.

"I just wondered what it was so I went over and had a look at it and I figured it must have fallen from the sky because there's no tracks or traffic or anything out here."

He added: "I know a lot about sheep and cattle but I don't know much about satellites. But I would say it is a fuel cell off some stage of a rocket."

Brisbane Planetarium curator Mark Rigby was asked to examine the object, which landed in the small town of Cheepie, west of Charleville in November last year.

He said there was "no doubt" it was a helium or nitrogen tank from a rocket, probably one that had been used to blast a U.S. solar satellite into space more than 18 months ago.

"I looked at what had been coming down around that time and orbits and things like that and managed to narrow the time frame based on when the farmer found it," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"This particular object was predicted for re-entry (into the Earth's atmosphere) at 11.47am Australian Eastern Standard time on November 1, 2007, which would have put it near Indonesia.

"I don't know why, but I think it has just sort of limped on a bit and ended up in Charleville."

After checking space flight records, Mr Rigby said the rocket had likely been launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on October 26, 2006.

It was used to send up one of two Stereo satellites into orbit to study the sun.

Helium or nitrogen tanks are used to pressurise the rocket's fuel systems and also to manoeuvre the spacecraft.

Mr Rigby said falling space junk was not as uncommon as people might think.

Nasa scientists estimated last year that more than 9,000 pieces of space debris are orbiting the Earth - and the hazard will only get worse in the next few years.

Much of the debris results from explosions of satellites, especially old upper stages left in orbit with leftover fuel and high-pressure fluids inside.

"There is about 5,000 tons' worth of operational and non-operational satellites and space junk in orbit at any one time," Mr Rigby added.

"There are things like this re-entering the Earth's atmosphere every week. The predictions can be quite uncertain about where it is going to come down."

Indeed, the remote area where Mr Stirton lives, around 500miles (800km) west of the northern Queensland state capital of Brisbane, is something of a magnet for so-called "space junk".

In 1979, large parts of the Skylab space station famously fell to earth near a tiny outback town in the west of Australia.

The local council sent Nasa a ticket for littering and the U.S. President at the time, Jimmy Carter, rang a local motel to apologise.