Australia: You're beautiful.

From today, Australians have access to detailed, colour images of the country from space thanks to Japan's Himawari 8 satellite.

Australia captured from the Himawari 8. It is like moving from 'the silent era of film to IMAX', says the Bureau of Meteorology.

For the weather nerds, it provides higher-resolution images of developing storms and bushfires. For the rest of us, it provides an awe-inspiring look at our country.

The photo above shows what Australia looked like on Wednesday morning at 7.40am – as you move through the images online you can see the sunlight gradually spread across the country.