Astronaut Photography

Brooklyn, New York Waterfront
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Brooklyn, New York Waterfront

his astronaut photograph captures the dense urban fabric of Brooklyn, New York City’s largest borough (population of 2.6 million), characterized by the regular pattern of highly reflective building rooftops (white). Two main arteries from Manhattan into Brooklyn—the famous Brooklyn Bridge and neighboring Manhattan Bridge—cross the East River along the left (north) side of the image.

Published Jul 30, 2007

Image of the Day Land Life

Upheaval Dome, Utah
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Upheaval Dome, Utah

Upheaval Dome is a striking geologic structure in the Canyonlands National Park of southern Utah. The alternating rock layers make a nearly circular, 5.5-kilometer- (3.4-mile-) diameter “bull’s-eye.” This photograph of Upheaval Dome was taken by an astronaut onboard the International Space Station. The oblique viewing angle—in other words, not looking straight down—provides a sense of the topography within and around the structure. The dome appears more like an ellipse than a circle due to the oblique viewing perspective.

Published Jul 23, 2007

Image of the Day Land

Algae in Great Salt Lake
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Algae in Great Salt Lake

The Great Salt Lake of northern Utah is a remnant of glacial Lake Bonneville that extended over much of present-day western Utah and into the neighboring states of Nevada and Idaho approximately 32,000 to 14,000 years ago. The north arm of the lake, displayed in this astronaut photograph from April 30, 2007, typically has twice the salinity of the rest of the lake due to impoundment of water by a railroad causeway that crosses the lake from east to west. The causeway restricts water flow, and the separation has led to a striking division in the types of algae and bacteria found in the north and south arms of the lake.

Published Jul 16, 2007

Image of the Day Life

Maracaibo City and Oil Slick, Venezuela
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Maracaibo City and Oil Slick, Venezuela

This astronaut photograph depicts the narrow strait between Lake Maracaibo and the Gulf of Venezuela. The brackish lake sits on top of a vast reservoir of buried oil deposits.

Published Jul 9, 2007

Image of the Day Land Water

Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland
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Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland

Maryland’s Patuxent River Naval Air Station is located on a small peninsula, bordered by the Patuxent River to the north-northeast and Chesapeake Bay to the east and southeast. International Space Station crews frequently use the Patuxent River Naval Air Station as a geographic reference point and photographic training target. This astronaut photograph illustrates why—the distinctive pattern of the airfield runways and the station’s location in Chesapeake Bay make it easy to spot from orbit.

Published Jul 2, 2007

Image of the Day Land Water

Grey Glacier, Chile
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Grey Glacier, Chile

The Southern Patagonian Icefield of Chile and Argentina hosts several spectacular glaciers—including Grey Glacier located in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. This glacier, which in 1996 had a measured total area of 270 square kilometers and a length of 28 kilometers (104 square miles in area, 17 miles long), begins in the Patagonian Andes Mountains to the west and terminates in three distinct lobes into Grey Lake (upper image).

Published Jun 25, 2007

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Iceberg A22A, South Atlantic Ocean
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Iceberg A22A, South Atlantic Ocean

The iceberg A22A was photographed when it was about a third of the distance from South America towards Cape Town, South Africa. A22A is one of the largest icebergs to drift as far north as 50 degrees south latitude, bringing it beneath the daylight path of the International Space Station (ISS). A series of parallel lines can be seen in the lower image. These are probably “hummocks,” dunes of snow that have solidified, and they date back to the time when the iceberg was connected to Antarctica. A developing fracture in the ice can be seen in the lower, detailed view.

Published Jun 18, 2007

Image of the Day Water Snow and Ice

Southern Everglades National Park, Florida
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Southern Everglades National Park, Florida

Everglades National Park in southern Florida is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States. Known as the “river of grass,” the Everglades wetlands and wooded uplands host a variety of endangered species including crocodiles, manatees, and panthers.

Published Jun 11, 2007

Image of the Day Land Water

Den Helder, Netherlands
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Den Helder, Netherlands

The city and harbor of Den Helder in the northern Netherlands has been the home port of the Dutch Royal Navy for over 175 years. The location provides access to the North Sea, which has made it an important commercial and strategic port. Bright red agricultural fields to the south of Den Helder indicate another noteworthy aspect of the region—commercial farming of tulips and hyacinth.

Published Jun 4, 2007

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Concepcion Volcano, Nicaragua
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Concepcion Volcano, Nicaragua

Concepción Volcano is one of the tallest and most active of Nicaragua’s volcanoes. The 1,610-meter (5,280-foot), cone-shaped volcano is the northern half of dumbbell-shaped Isla de Ometepe. To the northwest of the crater, a very faint plume (probably steam) creeps like fog down the mountain, blurring the sharp gullies that carve the volcano’s flanks.

Published May 29, 2007

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land

Monteregian Hills, Quebec, Canada
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Monteregian Hills, Quebec, Canada

This astronaut photograph of the area to the east of Montreal, Canada, captures two striking patterns. The circular features are the central members of a group of unusual rock formations known as the Monteregian Hills: Mont St. Hilaire, Rougemont, and Mont Yamaska. The rectangular pattern blanketing the landscape in the background reveals the intensive agriculture in the fertile lowlands in southern Quebec.

Published May 28, 2007

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Salt Ponds, Botswana
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Salt Ponds, Botswana

This detailed astronaut photograph shows the salt ponds of one of Africa’s major producers of soda ash (sodium carbonate) and salt. Soda ash is used for making glass, in metallurgy, in the detergent industry, and in chemical manufacture. The image shows a small part of the great salt flats of central Botswana known as the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans.

Published May 13, 2007

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November 2006 Smog Event, U.S. Northeast
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November 2006 Smog Event, U.S. Northeast

Images of haze over the northeastern United States are shown for November 2006.

Published May 7, 2007

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Kwangju, South Korea
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Kwangju, South Korea

Kwangju (or Gwangju) Metropolitan City is the fifth largest urban area in South Korea. With a population of 1.4 million people, it is a major economic and cultural center for the southern portion of the country. The city is located in a geographic basin with high mountains to the east—the mountain of Mudeungsan has a peak elevation of 1,140 meters (3,740 feet)—and more open plains to the west.

Published Apr 30, 2007

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Venice, Italy
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Venice, Italy

A space-based perspective of the city of Venice quickly reveals different development and land uses in the region; the major islands in the lagoon surrounding Venice—Laguna Veneta—look different from one another. The island of Venice itself, a dense urban landscape, appears almost uniformly covered with red-tiled roofs. By contrast, port facilities and the train station at the west end of the island appear in shades of gray.

Published Apr 23, 2007

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Isles of Scilly, UK
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Isles of Scilly, UK

The Isles of Scilly, an archipelago of approximately 150 islands, are located some 44 kilometers southwest of the westernmost point of England (Land’s End). They have been inhabited for over 4,000 years, and historical and geological evidence on the Isles indicates that many of the islands were larger and/or connected in the recent past.

Published Apr 16, 2007

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Plume at Shiveluch Volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia
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Plume at Shiveluch Volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

Shiveluch, one of Kamchatka’s most active volcanoes, began its latest activity with gas and steam emissions in mid- to late March 2007. This image was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) around mid-morning on or around March 21, 2007. It shows a steam plume, probably containing minor amounts of ash, blowing westward from the summit of the volcano. The astronauts were crossing over the southern tip of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, with a clear view of the volcano about 5 degrees north of the ground track of the ISS. Subsequent eruptions on March 29 and 30 have been recorded by the Kamchatka Volcano Observatory and NASA satellites.

Published Apr 9, 2007

Image of the Day Land

Plume at Mount Bagana, Bouganville Island
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Plume at Mount Bagana, Bouganville Island

Bouganville Island is geographically part of the Solomon Islands chain to the east of Papua New Guinea. (Politically, the island is part of Papua New Guinea.) Bouganville is typical of many Pacific Rim islands in that volcanism has played a large part in both its geological and recorded history. The island hosts three large volcanoes along its northwest-southeast trending axis: Mount Balbi, Mount Bagana, and the Mount Takuan volcanic complex. Mount Bagana, located near image center in this astronaut photograph, is the only historically active volcano on the island.

Published Apr 8, 2007

Image of the Day Land Volcanoes

Montevideo, Uruguay
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Montevideo, Uruguay

Reflective roofing materials and dark asphalt streets outline the urban grid pattern of Uruguay’s capital city, Montevideo, in this astronaut photograph. The city may be viewed as a precursor of a global population shift from dominantly rural to urban environments, a shift the United Nations estimates will occur by 2030. Nearly half of Uruguay’s total population now lives in the Montevideo metropolitan area. Located on the southern coastline of Uruguay along the Rio de la Plata, Montevideo Bay provides an important harbor and port facilities for transport of South American agricultural products.

Published Apr 2, 2007

Image of the Day Land Human Presence

Guanaja Island, Honduras
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Guanaja Island, Honduras

Guanaja Island is located in the western Caribbean, approximately 60 kilometers (about 37 miles) north of mainland Honduras. The island is near the western edge of the Cayman Ridge, a topographic feature made of rock types that indicate ancient volcanic islands, sedimentary layers, and ocean crust. The ridge resulted from tectonic interactions between the North American, South American, and Caribbean Plates. Guanaja and the nearby islands of Roatan and Utila (not shown) are the only portions of the western Cayman Ridge currently exposed above water.

Published Mar 26, 2007

Image of the Day Land

Caravelas Strandplain, Bahia Province, Brazil
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Caravelas Strandplain, Bahia Province, Brazil

This astronaut photograph highlights an ancient shoreline, or strandplain, on the coast of Brazil. The image is dominated by numerous fine, parallel lines (trending diagonally from upper left to lower right), each of which is an ancient shoreline made up of sand transported from rivers to the north.

Published Mar 19, 2007

Image of the Day Land

Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
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Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

The port city of Bahía Blanca lies almost 600 kilometers southwest of Buenos Aires on the southern rim of the Argentine economic heartland. This small city of 275,000 people is located near the mouth of the Arroyo Naposta.

Published Mar 12, 2007

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Flooding in Somalia
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Flooding in Somalia

The Horn of Africa frequently sees heavy precipitation during El Niño periods. In late November 2006, southern Somalia and eastern Ethiopia were experiencing severe flooding that displaced hundreds of thousands of people. These two astronaut photographs show the same coastal region in Somalia, south of the capital of Mogadishu, providing a visual contrast between wet and normal conditions.

Published Mar 5, 2007

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Montreal
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Montreal

The largest city in the Canadian province of Québec and the largest inland port in the world, Montréal takes its name from a distinctive landscape feature at the center of the city. Mont-Royal (“royal mountain” in French) rises to an elevation of 233 meters (about 764 feet) at Colline de la Croix peak.

Published Feb 26, 2007

Image of the Day Land

Barcelona, Spain
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Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Spain, occupies a low plateau along the Mediterranean coastal plain. The city is the second largest in Spain (after the capital, Madrid), and it hosts the country’s largest seaport, portions of which are visible in the lower right of the image. This detailed astronaut photograph captures several notable features of the Barcelona urban landscape. The architectural design of the Eixample district (image center) displays a grid pattern distinctive for Barcelona. Built during the 19th and 20th centuries, the district was built with octagonal city blocks—rectangular blocks with the corners cut off. (At the level of detail of this photograph, the blocks appear to be squares.) The original intention was for buildings to occupy only two or three sides of the octagonal blocks, surrounding gardens and open space. While the original street grid pattern remains, today many of the octagonal blocks are completely built up.

Published Feb 19, 2007

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Erg Oriental, Algeria
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Erg Oriental, Algeria

Published Feb 12, 2007

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Mumbai, India
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Mumbai, India

Mumbai is a megacity, one whose population is more than 10 million. More than 21 million people live in the greater Mumbai metropolitan region.

Published Feb 5, 2007

Image of the Day Land

The Top of the Atmosphere
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The Top of the Atmosphere

Atmospheric gases scatter blue wavelengths of visible light more than other wavelengths, giving the Earth’s visible edge a blue halo. At higher and higher altitudes, the atmosphere becomes so thin that it essentially ceases to exist. Gradually, the atmospheric halo fades into the blackness of space. This astronaut photograph captured on July 20, 2006, shows a nearly translucent moon emerging from behind the halo.

Published Feb 2, 2007

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Pagan Island, Northern Mariana Islands
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Pagan Island, Northern Mariana Islands

Pagan Island (image right) is made up of two volcanoes connected by a narrow isthmus of land. The volcanoes are stratovolcanoes, which are tall, typically cone-shaped structures formed by layers of dense, crystallized lava and less-dense ash and pumice. Mount Pagan, the larger of the two volcanoes, forms the northeastern portion of the island and has been the most active historically.

Published Jan 29, 2007

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water

The East Pacific Rise from Near and Far
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The East Pacific Rise from Near and Far

What do oceanographers and astronauts have in common? Observations of the complex interactions between different Earth systems, for one. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station routinely observe and photograph the Earth’s surface to visualize the complicated interfaces between the atmosphere, the ocean, the land, and life on the surface. Oceanographers are also interdisciplinary students of the Earth; their interests include geology, chemistry, hydrology, and biology. Currently, a team of scientists is cruising the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico and is preparing for submersible dives on the East Pacific Rise, part of the world’s mid-ocean ridge system.

Published Jan 23, 2007

Image of the Day Water