We've gone from being able to observe and analyze 100 square kilometer plots in the past down to 10 kilometers and even 1 kilometer. The clarity of the picture we're getting is analogous to a digital photograph becoming clearer as the pixels get smaller.
Quotes about pixels (4 Quotes)
The biggest surprise watching video on the tiny, 2.5-inch screen (320 by 240 pixels) is completely immersive. Three unexpected factors are at work. First, the picture itself is sharp and vivid, with crisp action that never smears the screen is noticeably brighter than on previous iPods. Second, because the audio is piped directly into your ear sockets, it has much higher fidelity and presence than most peoples TV sets. Finally, remember that a 2.5-inch screen a foot from your face fills as much of your vision as a much larger screen thats across the room.
Nobody has the display capability in their homes you'd need to really see these images in all their grandeur. One panorama we created was 4,000 pixels high and 24,000 pixels around, and your laptop just can't display that. But on an IMAX screen five stories tall, you're standing on the edge of the crater. You're there.
We often plough so much energy into the big picture, we forget the pixels.