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
Look up this weekend, just as we advised you to for the blood moon and total lunar eclipse in April! A “Supermoon,” one of the largest moons of the year, will come visiting. Both Friday and Saturday nights should provide good viewing, though the phenomenon actually occurs at 7:25 am EDT Saturday. This July moon is
OCO-2 is only a little thing, about 6 ft long, 3 ft in diameter, and less than half a ton in weight (NASA/JPL-Caltech, artist’s conception). It will be harder to deny the existence of climate change now that NASA has successfully launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2. A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air
Scientists are excited over an inadvertent discovery using instruments aboard the new Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, or Suomi NPP, a joint venture between NASA and NOAA. The satellite is actually sensitive enough to detect clouds and other objects in the nighttime sky from space, what to the human eye would simply be complete darkness. Such a discovery
Driven by southwesterly winter winds, dust from the White Sands dune field in New Mexico rises thousands of feet from the valley floor and drifts over the snowy peaks of the Sacramento Mountains creating the spectacular imagery captured for us by a member of the International Space Station. White Sands National Monument lies in
At 2:48 am (PDT) this morning, NASA successfully launched the NPP space craft into orbit. ‘NPP’ stands for ‘NPOESS Preparatory Project’* and the mission is the first in a series of “next generation”, polar-orbiting, research satellites poised to replaced a group of active, but aging, earth observing satellites, collectively known as the Earth Observing System
New Orleans has often been in the news over the past decade, for good and for bad. This true colour image of the city was taken on April 26, 2000, by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) on board the Landsat 7 satellite.
Iceland is aptly named in this image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite on March 9.
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.
As shown in last weeks Aqua satellite image a massive storm stretched over almost two-thirds of the United States. Flooding was reported from Louisiana to northern New York, and you can see why in this rain map provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Source: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Thanks to the NASA Earth Observatory, we have this utterly amazing image of Milan at night, taken onboard the International Space Station. Source: NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day
This amazing image, which so clearly shows the divide between California and Nevada, from green to desert, is courtesy of the European Space Agency, taken by Envisat. Source: ESA on Flickr
Using NASA’s Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the satellite Terra, this spectacular image of cloud vortices off Cheju Do, in South Korea, is available for your viewing pleasure. Source: NASA Goddard on Flickr
For the contiguous United States of America, January saw snow reach every one of the 50 states except for Florida. The image comes courtesy of NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, showing the maximum snow cover for the month. The data shows that about 71 percent of the entire country had
The NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day for the 24th of February showcases just how much energy is reflected back into space by the planet’s chryosphere, and how much that amount has decreased over the past 30 years. Mark Flanner of the University of Michigan and his colleagues have used satellite data to measure
The European Space Agency posted this image up on their Flickr page a week or so ago, showing the Apennine Mountains with their snowy peaks from space. The diverse and picturesque contours of southern Italy, known for its boot-like shape, take centre stage in this Envisat image. Its varied landscape is made up of sandy
NASA’s Image of the Day recently showcased an image of Ostrov Shikotan (or Shikotan-to), a volcanic island at the southern end of the Kuril chain, lying along the extreme southern edge of winter sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1)satellite captured this natural-color image of Shikotan on February
2010 was an exceptional year for Greenland’s ice cap. Melting started early and stretched later in the year than usual. Little snow fell to replenish the losses. By the end of the season, much of southern Greenland had set a new record, with melting that lasted 50 days longer than average. This image was assembled
What do you get when you mix below-freezing air temperatures, frigid northwest winds from Canada, and ocean temperatures hovering around 39 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 to 5 degrees Celsius)? Paved highways of clouds across the skies of the North Atlantic. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite collected this natural-color view
NASA’s Aqua Satellite has captured two tropical storms threatening to grow into cyclones north of Australia. Two low pressure areas are developing near the Northern Territory and Western Australia, System 99S is currently strengthenig near Darwin, Australia, while another low pressure called System 97S is strengthening near WA. System 97S was located about 210 nautical
NASA’s Aqua Satellite has captured two tropical storms threatening to grow into cyclones north of Australia. Two low pressure areas are developing near the Northern Territory and Western Australia, System 99S is currently strengthenig near Darwin, Australia, while another low pressure called System 97S is strengthening near WA. System 97S was located about 210 nautical
NASA’s AIRS instrument aboard the Aqua satellite captured more images of Cyclone Bingiza as it moved its way across Madagascar and into the Mozambique Channel. When NASA’s Aqua satellite flew over Madagascar this morning, Feb. 15 at 11:11 UTC (6:11 a.m. EST), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument read the temperatures of the cold thunderstorm
NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites have captured visible and infrared satellite images of Tropical Cyclone Bingiza as it made landfall over northeastern Madagascar. Tropical Cyclone Bingiza made landfall on Madagascar on February 14, 2011. The U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that, as of about noon Madagascar time on February 14, Bingiza had
NASA has released images of North America covered by the massive winter storm that last week hit 30 states. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) that cover the U.S. weather, GOES-11 and GOES-13 are operated by NOAA, and the NASA GOES Project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. creates images and animations
On Feb. 6th, NASA’s twin STEREO probes moved into position on opposite sides of the sun, and they are now beaming back uninterrupted images of the entire star—front and back. “For the first time ever, we can watch solar activity in its full 3-dimensional glory,” says Angelos Vourlidas, a member of the STEREO science team
NASA’S Aqua and Terra satellites have captured numerous images of the monster storm that is one of the largest winter storms since the 1950s to affect the United States, affecting 30 states with snow, sleet and rain. A visible image captured by the GOES-13 satellite this morning, Feb. 1 at 1401 UTC (9:01 a.m. EST)
In determining whether humans are the sole cause for the warming currently taking place in our atmosphere, accurate data is needed for how much energy the sun is putting into that same atmosphere, and according to a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists have made a big step towards accurate determining
On the 11th of January, Mount Etna, in Sicily, Italy, Europe’s largest volcano, erupted briefly, spewing flames, ash and smoke into the atmosphere and lava down its slopes. The ESA’s Envisat MERIS captured an image of the volcano from above, a trail of smoke drifting to the east. And below is an image found on
NASA is behind a lot of the satellites running around in orbit around our little blue planet, and in a new slideshow of images they showcase the change of seasons, as seen, from space. The full slideshow can be seen as an interactive scroll here or all in one page here. Vegetation Patterns Around Lake
NASA recently released a time-lapse video of the BP oil spill using excellent satellite images. View it below. Been wanting to see a time-lapse video of the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the almost unimaginable oil spill that is resulting from it? Now you can. The images in the following NASA video begin with
NASA’s Aqua satellite has caught imagery of the sun glinting off the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. [social_buttons]As it swept over the Gulf of Mexico, the Aqua, using the onboard Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument, took the above image showing three big bright sunglints. According to the May 18 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
[social_buttons] Google Inc. is joining forces with space agencies around the world and the conservation organization Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to monitor deforestation rates using satellite imagery. Among the space agencies working on the program are NASA, the ESA, and the national space agencies of Japan, Germany, Italy, India, and Brazil. The GEO is
[social_buttons] NASA has released the first ever images of mysterious polar night clouds that form 50 miles above Earth’s surface, and says that they might be linked to global warming. The startling images were captured by NASA’s “AIM” satellite (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere), and show night clouds above 70 degrees north latitude on
A scientist named Tim Bean, who is a PhD student at the University of California Berkeley writes the following on a website: “I expect that ‘Counting Rats from Space,’ the proposed title of my thesis, will become an international phenomenon, spawning everything from a board game to a Top 40 dance hall burner.” His dream
