The European Space Agency's Proba-1 microsatellite has captured an image of the annual Burning Man festival celebrated in the Nevada desert.

Around 50,000 people gathered in northern Nevada's Black Rock Desert for the 25th Burning Man Festival, partying and celebrating for a week. A city is built each year and totally dismantled after the event.

The theme for this year's Burning Man was Rites of Passage. The eventm which began as a free gathering on a San Francisco beach, now costs up to $360, with tickets going for as high as $1000 on Stub Hub.

As the ESA's Proba-1 microsatellite flew some 600 km overhead of the region, it snapped a souvenir image.

A mosaic of four 5 m-resolution black and white images was acquired by Proba-1's HRC high-resolution camera on Thursday, showing massed camper vans and tents gathered for the week-long art and self-expression festival.

HRC includes a micro-camera developed by the Swiss company Micro-Cameras & Space Exploration. It is one of a series of miniature cameras built by the company for ESA missions such as Proba-2 and SMART-1. One on Rosetta should provide us with the first views from the surface of a comet in 2014.

Check out the images of the 2011 Burning Man Festival below:

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Burning Man 2011
A participant shows her octopus hat to a friend as they visit the effigy of the man during the Burning Man "Rites of Passage" arts and music festival in Nevada Reuters
Burning Man 2011
A Burning Man participant looks at an art project during the Burning Man 2011 "Rites of Passage" arts and music festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada Reuters
Burning Man 2011
A woman riding in an outrigger aboard a music camp art car playing dance music fires a flame cannon over the heads of Burning Man participants as they dance in the middle of the Black Rock Desert in the early hours of the morning after midnight during the Burning Man 2011 "Rites of Passage" arts and music festival in Nevada September 2, 2011. Reuters
Burning Man 2011
MAN STANDS IN SHAPE OF CROSS DURING SANDSTORM AT BURNING MAN FESTIVAL IN NEVADA. Reuters
Burning Man 2011
The Man is burned during the Burning Man 2011 arts and music festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada Reuters
ESA Releases Satellite Image of 2011 Burning Man Festival.
Part of a 5 m-resolution black and white mosaic of images acquired by Proba-1’s High Resolution Camera (HRC) on Thursday 1 September, showing massed camper vans and tents gathered for the desert-based Burning Man festival at Black Rock, Nevada. ESA
ESA Releases Satellite Image of 2011 Burning Man Festival
This is a mosaic of four 5 m-resolution black and white image acquired by Proba-1’s High Resolution Camera (HRC) on Thursday 1 September, showing massed camper vans and tents gathered for the desert-based Burning Man festival at Black Rock, Nevada. ESA
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