Scientists have analyzed the movement of Earth during and after the 6.3 earthquake that shook the medieval town of L’Aquila in central Italy on 6 April 2009 by studying radar data from ESA’s Envisat and the Italian Space Agency’s COSMO-SkyMed satellites. The scientists used a technique that merged data acquired before and after the earthquake to generate images that appear as rainbow-colored interference patterns. A complete set of colored bands or ‘fringes’ represents ground movement relative to the spacecraft.