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This cosmic expanse of dust, gas, and stars covers some 6 degrees on the sky in the heroic constellation Perseus. At upper left in the gorgeous skyscape is the intriguing young star cluster IC 348 and neighboring Flying Ghost Nebula. At right, another active star forming region NGC 1333 is connected by dark and dusty tendrils on the outskirts of the giant Perseus Molecular Cloud, about 850 light-years away. Other dusty nebulae are scattered around the field of view, along with the faint reddish glow of hydrogen gas. In fact, the cosmic dust tends to hide the newly formed stars and young stellar objects or protostars from prying optical telescopes. Collapsing due to self-gravity, the protostars form from the dense cores embedded in the dusty molecular cloud. At the molecular cloud's estimated distance, this field of view would span almost 90 light-years. via NASA ift.tt/1Mk1n1m
These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away, in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers, though. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries, embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The pretty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years. The colorful field-of-view stretches almost five Full Moons across the sky. via NASA ift.tt/1YcJWY8
In Italian: aliveuniverse.today/rubriche/notizie-curiose/6771-non-e-u...
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech - Processing: Elisabetta Bonora & Marco Faccin / aliveuniverse.today
NASA : "art002e012028 (April 6, 2026) - The Artemis II crew captured a close-up snapshot of the near side of the Moon as NASA’s Orion spacecraft approached for the lunar flyby. The near side, characterized by the dark patches of ancient lava, is visible on the top third of the lunar disk. Aristarchus crater is the bright white dot in the midst of a dark grey lava flow at the top of the image".
Credit: NASA
Post processing: Thomas Thomopoulos
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope successfully arrived in French Guiana Tuesday, October 12, 2021, after a 16-day journey at sea. The 1,500-mile voyage took Webb from California through the Panama Canal to Port de Pariacabo on the Kourou River in French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America.
The world’s largest and most complex space science observatory will now be driven to its launch site, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, where it will begin two months of operational preparations before its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket, scheduled for Dec. 18.
Read more:
Press release: www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-webb-space-telescope-ar...
Feature: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/how-to-ship-the-world-s...
Image credit: NASA/Chris Gunn
Black/white/red images are Terra thermal band image captured October 11, 2017.
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As wildfires burn across California, NASA satellites help gather data about where the fires are and how smoke travels across the state.
The smoke from the fires is even visible a million miles away from Earth, captured by NASA's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) onboard NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). The Terra spacecraft can see fires in both daylight and at night, helping aid firefighters in tracking and stopping the blazes. NASA's unique vantage point in space helps better understand our home planet.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Why would the sky look like a giant fan? Airglow. The featured intermittent green glow appeared to rise from a lake through the arch of our Milky Way Galaxy, as captured last summer next to Bryce Canyon in Utah, USA. The unusual pattern was created by atmospheric gravity waves, ripples of alternating air pressure that can grow with height as the air thins, in this case about 90 kilometers up. Unlike auroras powered by collisions with energetic charged particles and seen at high latitudes, airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light in a chemical reaction. More typically seen near the horizon, airglow keeps the night sky from ever being completely dark. via NASA ift.tt/1lRVIJA
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey that will continue the Landsat Program's 40-year data record of monitoring Earth's landscapes from space. LDCM will expand and improve on that record with observations that advance a wide range of Earth sciences and contribute to the management of agriculture, water and forest resources.
The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The first Landsat satellite launched in 1972 and the next satellite in the series, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission – LDCM, is scheduled to launch on February 11, 2013.
LDCM will launch from Vandenburg Air Force Base using an Atlas V-401 rocket from ULA.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Managers have given the "go" to proceed toward a Feb.11 launch of NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is the future of Landsat satellites. It will continue to obtain valuable data and imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science, and government.
The mission will extend more than 40 years of global land observations that are critical in many areas, such as energy and water management, forest monitoring, human and environmental health, urban planning, disaster recovery and agriculture.
To learn more about LDCM and Landsat go to: 1.usa.gov/XSYBZ2
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft stands atop Launch Pad 39B at sunrise at Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch. United Launch Alliance (ULA) under a collaborative partnership with Boeing, built the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) upper stage of the SLS rocket that will propel Orion to the Moon. Photo by United Launch Alliance
On February 17 at 5:45pm JST this H-IIA rocket blasted skyward from JAXA's Tanegashima Space Center located off the southern coast of Japan, planet Earth. Onboard was the ASTRO-H X-ray astronomy satellite, now in orbit. Designed to explore the extreme cosmos from black holes to massive galaxy clusters, the satellite observatory is equipped with four cutting-edge X-ray telescopes and instruments sensitive to photon energies from 300 to 600,000 electron volts. By comparison, visible light photon energies are 2 to 3 electron volts. Following a tradition of renaming satellites after their successful launch, ASTRO-H has been newly dubbed "Hitomi", inspired by an ancient legend of dragons. Hitomi means "the pupil of the eye". via NASA ift.tt/1Qo1pqI
What are those streaks of light in the sky? First and foremost, the arching structure is the central band of our Milky Way galaxy. Visible in this galactic band are millions of distant stars mixed with numerous lanes of dark dust. Harder to discern is a nearly vertical beam of light rising from the horizon, just to the right of the image center. This beam is zodiacal light, sunlight scattered by dust in our Solar System that may be surprisingly prominent just after sunset or just before sunrise. In the foreground are several telescopes of the Bosque Alegre Astrophysical Station of the National University of Cordoba in Argentina. The station schedules weekend tours and conducts research into the nature of many astronomical objects including comets, active galaxies, and clusters of galaxies. The featured image was taken early this month. via NASA ift.tt/1WeYpCs
Sometimes both heaven and Earth erupt. Colorful aurorae erupted unexpectedly a few years ago, with green aurora appearing near the horizon and brilliant bands of red aurora blooming high overhead. A bright Moon lit the foreground of this picturesque scene, while familiar stars could be seen far in the distance. With planning, the careful astrophotographer shot this image mosaic in the field of White Dome Geyser in Yellowstone National Park in the western USA. Sure enough, just after midnight, White Dome erupted -- spraying a stream of water and vapor many meters into the air. Geyser water is heated to steam by scalding magma several kilometers below, and rises through rock cracks to the surface. About half of all known geysers occur in Yellowstone National Park. Although the geomagnetic storm that created these aurorae has since subsided, eruptions of White Dome Geyser continue about every 30 minutes. via NASA ift.tt/2dmTiBm
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft on a resupply mission to the International Space Station lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 11:05 p.m. EDT on March 22, 2016. via NASA ift.tt/1q1rw1q
An U.S. Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket carrying the Department of Defense’s Operationally Responsive Space office’s ORS-1 satellite is scheduled for launch June 28, 2011 from NASA’s Launch Range at the Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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These three bright nebulae are often featured in telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded starfields of the central Milky Way. In fact, 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier cataloged two of them; M8, the large nebula left of center, and colorful M20 near the bottom of the frame The third, NGC 6559, is right of M8, separated from the larger nebula by dark dust lanes. All three are stellar nurseries about five thousand light-years or so distant. The expansive M8, over a hundred light-years across, is also known as the Lagoon Nebula. M20's popular moniker is the Trifid. In the composite image, narrowband data records ionized hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur atoms radiating at visible wavelengths. The mapping of colors and range of brightness used to compose this cosmic still life were inspired by Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers. Just right of the Trifid one of Messier's open star clusters, M21, is also included on the telescopic canvas. via NASA ift.tt/28RRxrB
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft's vantage point in orbit around the moon. via NASA go.nasa.gov/1TTYBoO
Have you ever seen the Man on the Moon? This common question plays on the ability of humans to see pareidolia -- imagining familiar icons where they don't actually exist. The textured surface of Earth's full Moon is home to numerous identifications of iconic objects, not only in modern western culture but in world folklore throughout history. Examples, typically dependent on the Moon's perceived orientation, include the Woman in the Moon and the Rabbit in the Moon. One facial outline commonly identified as the Man in the Moon starts by imagining the two dark circular areas -- lunar maria -- here just above the Moon's center, to be the eyes. Surprisingly, there actually is a man in this Moon image -- a close look will reveal a real person -- with a telescope -- silhouetted against the Moon. This featured well-planned image was taken in mid-January in Cadalso de los Vidrios in Madrid, Spain. Do you have a favorite object that you see in the Moon? via NASA ift.tt/1QBUFZn
A 1,000-foot convoy carrying the nonprofit Space Center Houston’s historic shuttle carrier aircraft will journey home on an eight-mile trek through the bay area during the nights of April 28-29, arriving the morning of April 30. Roads will close so workers can dismantle streetlights, signs and utility poles as the convoy approaches.
The portion of Highway 3 (Old Galveston Road) between its intersections with Scarsdale and NASA Parkway will close 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. Monday, April 28. Then on Tuesday, April 29, NASA Parkway from Highway 3 to Saturn Lane will close from 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. (See Route Map)
Thanks to extensive pre-planning efforts, no utilities are expected to be interrupted. The convoy will travel at night for the safety of our neighbors and the workers involved in this complex transfer, as well as to minimize the impact on local residents, the traveling public and businesses.
The project to disassemble and safely transport the massive airplane was done in partnership with 30 private, public, and government organizations, many of whom did the work for little or no charge.
Moving at walking speed, the convoy will carry the disassembled Boeing 747 sections on six different trailers from Ellington Field. The largest section moving intact is the fuselage, measuring 25 feet wide, 35 feet high and over 190 feet long, which will travel on a Goldhofer multi-wheeled, self-propelled trailer.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks during a NASA briefing on the Artemis I Moon mission, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. NASA’s Artemis I mission is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System rocket, and supporting ground systems. Launch of the uncrewed flight test is targeted for no earlier than Monday, Aug. 29. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
A massive winter storm was coming together as two low pressure systems were merging over the U.S. East Coast. This composite satellite image from NASA's Aqua satellite on Feb. 8 shows a western frontal system approaching the coastal low pressure area.
The visible image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The image shows clouds associated with the western frontal system stretching from Canada through the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, into the Gulf of Mexico. The comma shaped low pressure system located over the Atlantic, east of Virginia, is forecast to merge with the front and create a powerful nor'easter. The National Weather Service expects the merged storm to move northeast and drop between two to three feet of snow in parts of New England.
Image: NASA/MODIS
Caption: NASA Goddard/Rob Gutro
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4845, located over 65 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin). The galaxy’s orientation clearly reveals the galaxy’s striking spiral structure: a flat and dust-mottled disk surrounding a bright galactic bulge. via NASA ift.tt/1S8lWWe
Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our neighborhood, IC 342 is a mere 10 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation Camelopardalis. A sprawling island universe, IC 342 would otherwise be a prominent galaxy in our night sky, but it is hidden from clear view and only glimpsed through the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds along the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy. Even though IC 342's light is dimmed by intervening cosmic clouds, this deep telescopic image traces the galaxy's obscuring dust, blue star clusters, and glowing pink star forming regions along spiral arms that wind far from the galaxy's core. IC 342 may have undergone a recent burst of star formation activity and is close enough to have gravitationally influenced the evolution of the local group of galaxies and the Milky Way. via NASA ift.tt/1nCJE0C
NASA image acquired December 17, 2010
In mid-December 2010, suspended sediments transformed the southern end of Lake Michigan. Ranging in color from brown to green, the sediment filled the surface waters along the southern coastline and formed a long, curving tendril extending toward the middle of the lake. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured these natural-color images on December 17, 2010 (top), and December 10, 2010 (bottom).
Such sediment clouds are not uncommon in Lake Michigan, where winds influence lake circulation patterns. A scientificpaper published in 2007 described a model of the circulation, noting that while the suspended particles mostly arise from lake-bottom sediments along the western shoreline, they tend to accumulate on the eastern side. When northerly winds blow, two circulation gyres, rotating in opposite directions, transport sediment along the southern shoreline. As the northerly winds die down, the counterclockwise gyre predominates, and the smaller, clockwise gyre dissipates. Clear water—an apparent remnant of the small clockwise gyre—continues to interrupt the sediment plume.
George Leshkevich, a researcher with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, explains that the wind-driven gyres erode lacustrine clay (very fine lakebed sediment) on the western shore before transporting it, along with re-suspended lake sediments, to the eastern shore. On the eastern side, the gyre encounters a shoreline bulge that pushes it toward the lake’s central southern basin, where it deposits the sediments.
The sediment plume on December 17 followed a windy weather front in the region on December 16.
NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.
Instrument: Aqua - MODIS
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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To read more about this image go to: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=48511
Crediti: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS - Processing: Elisabetta Bonora & Marco Faccin / aliveuniverse.today
In the center of this serene stellar swirl is likely a harrowing black-hole beast. The surrounding swirl sweeps around billions of stars which are highlighted by the brightest and bluest. The breadth and beauty of the display give the swirl the designation of a grand design spiral galaxy. The central beast shows evidence that it is a supermassive black hole about 10 million times the mass of our Sun. This ferocious creature devours stars and gas and is surrounded by a spinning moat of hot plasma that emits blasts of X-rays. The central violent activity gives it the designation of a Seyfert galaxy. Together, this beauty and beast are cataloged as NGC 6814 and have been appearing together toward the constellation of the Eagle (Aquila) for roughly the past billion years. via NASA ift.tt/28QSdzN
Auroras usually occur high above the clouds. The auroral glow is created when fast-moving particles ejected from the Sun impact the Earth's magnetosphere, from which charged particles spiral along the Earth's magnetic field to strike atoms and molecules high in the Earth's atmosphere. An oxygen atom, for example, will glow in the green light commonly emitted by an aurora after being energized by such a collision. The lowest part of an aurora will typically occur at 100 kilometers up, while most clouds usually exist only below about 10 kilometers. The relative heights of clouds and auroras are shown clearly in the featured picture from Dyrholaey, Iceland. There, a determined astrophotographer withstood high winds and initially overcast skies in an attempt to capture aurora over a picturesque lighthouse, only to take, by chance, the featured picture along the way. via NASA ift.tt/1IdvuGN
When i got the idea stuck in my head i thought the tag would be "Unimaginable".
more on my cargo collective - www.cargocollective.com/theoryandcraft
Giant elliptical galaxy M60 and spiral galaxy NGC 4647 do look like an odd couple in this sharp cosmic portrait from the Hubble Space Telescope. But they are found in a region of space where galaxies tend to gather, on the eastern side of the nearby Virgo Galaxy Cluster. About 54 million light-years distant, bright M60's simpler egg-like shape is created by its randomly swarming older stars, while NGC 4647's young blue stars, gas and dust are organized into winding arms rotating in a flattened disk. Spiral NGC 4647 is estimated to be more distant than M60, some 63 million light-years away. Also known as Arp 116, the pair of galaxies may be on the verge of a significant gravitational encounter, though. M60 (aka NGC 4649) is about 120,000 light-years across. The smaller NGC 4647 spans around 90,000 light-years, about the size of our own Milky Way. via NASA ift.tt/1ZVsRBG
All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in Iceland, on a quiet night last September, much of that night's auroras had died down. Suddenly though, a new burst of particles streamed down from space, lighting up the Earth's atmosphere once again. This time, unexpectedly, pareidoliacally, they created an amazing shape reminiscent of a giant phoenix. With camera equipment at the ready, two quick sky images were taken, followed immediately by a third of the land. The mountain in the background is Helgafell, while the small foreground river is called Kaldá, both located about 30 kilometers north of Iceland's capital Reykjavik. Seasoned skywatchers will note that just above the mountain, toward the left, is the constellation of Orion, while the Pleiades star cluster is also visible just above the frame center. The new aurora lasted only a minute and would be gone forever -- possibly dismissed as an embellished aberration -- were it not captured in the featured, digitally-composed, image mosaic. via NASA ift.tt/254533W
This might look like a double-bladed lightsaber, but these two cosmic jets actually beam outward from a newborn star in a galaxy near you. Constructed from Hubble Space Telescope image data, the stunning scene spans about half a light-year across Herbig-Haro 24 (HH 24), some 1,300 light-years or 400 parsecs away in the stellar nurseries of the Orion B molecular cloud complex. Hidden from direct view, HH 24's central protostar is surrounded by cold dust and gas flattened into a rotating accretion disk. As material from the disk falls toward the young stellar object it heats up. Opposing jets are blasted out along the system's rotation axis. Cutting through the region's interstellar matter, the narrow, energetic jets produce a series of glowing shock fronts along their path. via NASA ift.tt/1k6olSs
This schlieren image of a T-38C aircraft was captured using the patent-pending BOSCO technique and then processed with NASA-developed code to reveal shock wave structures. Researchers at Armstrong and NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, have developed new schlieren techniques based on modern image processing methods. via NASA ift.tt/1KPgwer
A dark Sun hangs in the clearing sky over a volcanic planet in this morning sea and skycape. It was taken during this week's total solar eclipse, a dramatic snapshot from along the narrow path of totality in the dark shadow of a New Moon. Earth's Indonesian isle of Ternate, North Maluku lies in the foreground. The sky is still bright near the eastern horizon though, beyond the region's flattened volcanic peaks and outside the Moon's umbral shadow. In fact, near the equator the dark lunar umbra is rushing eastward across Earth's surface at about 1,700 kilometers (1,100 miles) per hour. Shining through the thin clouds, around the Sun's silhouette is the alluring glow of the solar corona, only easily seen during totality. An inspiring sight for eclipse watchers, this solar corona is the tenuous, hot outer atmosphere of the Sun. via NASA go.nasa.gov/1P35ZtF
Early spring in the northern hemisphere is good season for aurora hunters. Near an equinox Earth's magnetic field is oriented to favor interactions with the solar wind that trigger the alluring glow of the northern lights. On March 28/29 the skies over Kaunispää Hill, Lapland, Finland did not disappoint. That night's expansive auroral curtains are captured in this striking panoramic view that covers a full 360 degrees. Local skywatchers were mesmerized by bright displays lasted throughout the dark hours, shimmering with colors easily visible to the naked eye. via NASA ift.tt/1SjdtKS
NASA image acquired December 3, 2012
As predicted, Typhoon Bopha made landfall on the Philippine island of Mindanao overnight December 3–4, 2012. Known in the Philippines as Pablo, the storm was blamed for 43 deaths and 25 injuries as of December 4, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
(To view the high res or to read more go to: 1.usa.gov/XnYhVG)
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this image around 1:12 a.m. local time on December 4 (17:12 UTC on December 3). This image is from the VIIRS “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as gas flares, auroras, wildfires, city lights, and reflected moonlight.
Bopha remained a powerful typhoon as it made landfall on Mindanao, retaining a distinct eye and spiral shape as storm clouds stretched over the eastern part of the island. Unisys Weather reported that Bopha carried super-typhoon strength at the time it was coming ashore. William Straka, associate researcher at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, estimated that the storm spanned at least 1,677 kilometers (1,042 miles).
Bopha lost some strength after making landfall. On December 4 (late in the evening in the Philippines), the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that the storm had maximum sustained winds of 95 knots (175 kilometers per hour) and gusts up to 115 knots (215 kilometers per hour)—still a fierce storm, but weakened since the previous day. The JTWC projected storm track showed Bopha continuing its movement toward the west-northwest, passing over the southern Philippines toward the South China Sea.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using VIIRS day-night band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Defense. Caption by Michon Scott.
Instrument: Suomi NPP - VIIRS
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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This image of haze layers above Pluto’s limb was taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. About 20 haze layers are seen; the layers have been found to typically extend horizontally over hundreds of kilometers, but are not strictly parallel to the surface. via NASA ift.tt/1MpKPpM
A mosaic of 8 raw Mastcam images acquired on mission Sol 855 (Jan. 1, 2015) showing closer detail of a ridge in Gale Crater nicknamed "Salsberry Peak."
See the previous wide-angle view: www.flickr.com/photos/lightsinthedark/15993877248/
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Composite by Jason Major.
Recorded in 2014 April, this total lunar eclipse sequence looks south down icy Waterton Lake from the Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, planet Earth. The most distant horizon includes peaks in Glacier National Park, USA. An exposure every 10 minutes captured the Moon's position and eclipse phase, as it arced, left to right, above the rugged skyline and Waterton town lights. In fact, the sequence effectively measures the roughly 80 minute duration of the total phase of the eclipse. Around 270 BC, the Greek astronomer Aristarchus also measured the duration of lunar eclipses - though probably without the benefit of digital clocks and cameras. Still, using geometry, he devised a simple and impressively accurate way to calculate the Moon's distance, in terms of the radius of planet Earth, from the eclipse duration. This modern eclipse sequence also tracks the successive positions of Mars, above and right of the Moon, bright star Spica next to the reddened lunar disk, and Saturn to the left and below. via NASA ift.tt/1NWb8qX