NASA celebrated the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics by releasing some breathtaking satellite images of the venues created for the games in Sochi, Russia. The photos, taken via the agency's Terra satellite, provide a remarkable view of both the vast series of sites built for indoor events, which dot the coastline along the Black Sea, as well as the mountainous terrain that plays host to the skiing and snowboarding competitions. More on the story at Space.com.
the pictures:

The Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, is the warmest city ever to host the Winter Olympic Games, which open on Feb. 7, 2014, and run through Feb. 23. This north-looking image, acquired on Jan. 4, 2014, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, shows the Sochi Olympic Park Coastal Cluster, which was built for Olympic indoor sports.

The 2014 Winter Olympic ski runs may be rated double black diamond, but they're not quite as steep as they appear in this image of the skiing and snowboarding sites for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, acquired on Jan. 4, 2014, by NASA's Terra satellite. Rosa Khutar ski resort near Sochi, Russia, is in the valley at center, and the runs are visible on the shadowed slopes on the left-hand side of the valley.