Coming up on New Year’s Eve, earthlings tend to celebrate milestones of the year passed, as well as look expectantly toward the future. Here, Planetsave brings you some of the best space coverage of 2014 in various media. The overall winner has to be the six-minute ultra-high definition timelapse video, with custom soundtrack, compiled by
It’s only taken ten years and four billion miles. The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft, a two-part probe with orbiter and lander, arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on August 6 after the long trip. [UPDATE 10:50 CST: Philae’s on the ground!] Despite a faulty thruster, Rosetta successfully launched Philae, the 220-pound lander, from orbit several hours ago.
Would you like to chase satellites, print out custom sky charts whenever you wish, and locate real-time iridium flares without a telescope or binoculars? Heavens Above has just the features you’re looking for. It’s dedicated to helping people observe and track, with only the naked eye, satellites orbiting Earth. Chris Peat, a physicist and space-industry
3D printing technology is finding some remarkable applications these days; more than just a clever way to make personalized furniture or dishware, 3D printing (using rapid prototyping software) has of late expanded into biomedicine and anti-cancer drug manufacturing. But now, this rapid 3D printing technology — which relies on design software-controlled lasers — is poise
Though looking at Ireland from space is always stunning, with it’s masses of dark green spread across the vast majority of the island, in this image there is something even more spectacular; the electric blue plankton bloom to the south. Captured by the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite on 23 May, 2010, using the Medium
The world’s fourth largest island and the subject of quite a funny animated film, Madagascar is caught on camera by the European Space Agency’s satellite Envisat on 30 June, 2009. The image was caught using the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument and shows very clearly the beautiful green and browns of the island. Source:
The Aegean and Libyan Seas in the eastern Mediterranean are split by the island of Crete, which is seen in prominence in this Envisat image.
Captured on the 8th of September by the European Space Agency’s Envisat Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) are the Canary Islands, at the bottom of this image, off the west coast of Africa.
In this stunning black and white image taken by the European Space Agency’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) on board Envisat, we get to see Spitsbergen, Norway’s largest island.
Everyone has heard about the beautifully romantic city that is Venice, and sometimes we even get to see inside the city thanks to movies like The Italian Job and Casino Royale. However this beautiful image taken by Ikonos-2, a commercial satellite that provides panchromatic and multispectral high-resolution imagery for the European Space Agency shows us another, but just as spectacular view of the city.
A mapping project that stemmed from the International Polar Year has provided scientists with an intricate map of previously unmapped glaciers and their slow progress across the icy continent of Antarctica.
This beautiful image shows southern Namibia and northern South Africa on Africa’s lower-west coast thanks to the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite.
The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami left devastation along the Japanese coast line that is still being felt to this day. But the resultant tsunami also caused havoc in Antarctica, breaking off several large icebergs from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf.
The European Space Agency’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite has shone the spotlight on just how dire the drought in countries like Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti really is, with tens of thousands of people now looking for succour and refuge in neighbouring countries.
Japan’s Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS) captured this image of Tanzania’s Lake Sulunga on 25 June, 2009, with its AVNIR-2 Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer.
Images taken by the European Space Agency’s ERS-2 satellite days before it was retired have revealed the rapid changes happening to Greenland’s glaciers.
The volcanic island of Guadalupe, seen below peeking through the clouds near the top of this image taken by the European Space Agency’s satellite Envisat, is the cause for the beautiful swirls in the clouds.
This Envisat image provided by the European Space Agency shows Iran’s Qeshm Island, the largest island in the Persian Gulf.
In 1998 a group of scientists proposed a mission known as CryoSat to study the planet’s poles. In 2005 the first satellite was lost due to a launch failure. However, at the 2011 Paris Air and Space Show, the first map of sea-ice thickness from ESA’s CryoSat mission was revealed, and has gone far beyond what was expected.
This Envisat image features three of Envisat’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) acquisitions (19 November 2009, 8 April 2010 and 13 May 2010) laid over one another, depicting the changes in the surface of the Yukon Delta, in Alaska, between when the photos were taken.
Below, are images from the eruption and of the ash plume that ended up disrupting air travel in Iceland, followed shortly by Greenland, Scotland, Norway, Svalbard and a small part of Denmark, Northern Ireland, northern England and Northern Germany.
Paolo Nespoli, a European Space Agency Astronaut and Flight Engineer of ISS Expedition 26/27 which extended from December 2010 to May 2011 took the following photo before leaving the International Space Station for home, at the end of his 6 month stay.
Paolo Nespoli, a European Space Agency Astronaut and Flight Engineer of ISS Expedition 26/27 which extended from December 2010 to May 2011 took the following photo before leaving the International Space Station for home, at the end of his 6 month stay.
The image shows a brown and dry landscape, unsurprising as it followed one of the warmest months on record. The image shows Scotland (top) and Northern Ireland (bottom left) after they had endured just two-thirds of the rain normally expected in April, and increased temperatures.
Located between the French island of Corsica and the Italian island of Sardinia, the Strait of Bonifacio is pictured here thanks to the European Space Agency’s Envisat.
This beautiful image captures parts of the Baltic region still covered in snows and ice, thanks to the European Space Agency’ Envisat.
This beautiful image depicts the Gedo region in southwest Somalia was acquired by the Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer instrument on board ALOS, Japan’s Earth observation satellite.
The European Space Agency, the UN’S World Meteorological Organization, and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research are among the leading authorities reporting a record depletion of the ozone layer over the Arctic.
According to the WMO, “depletion of the ozone layer … has reached an unprecedented level over the Arctic this spring because of the continuing presence of ozone-depleting substances…”
The European Space Agency, courtesy of the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer onboard the Envisat satellite captured this image of Central Europe on March 22 at a resolution of 300 m.
This fantastic image of Holbox Island and the Yalahau Lagoon on the northeast corner of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula was taken by the Korea Multi-purpose Satellite (Kompsat-2) of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute on 12 March.
This image, taken by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer on 4 February 2011 shows the closest point between Iran (top) and the Arabian Peninsula, the Strait of Hormuz (centre), which links the Persian Gulf (left) with the Gulf of Oman (upper right) and the Arabian Sea (lower right).
The Envisat – Environmental Satellite – launched by the European Space Agency in 2002 captured this image using the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on 5 February 2011 of the Antarctic Peninsula, which stretches beyond the Antarctic Circle to within 1050 km to the southern tip of South America. The 1000-km-long arm of the mountainous
