Astronaut Photography

Chicago and Its Loop
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Chicago and Its Loop

A photograph from the space station shows some of the natural features that have governed the growth of the city.

Published Dec 22, 2014

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Italy at Night
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Italy at Night

The easily recognized boot of Italy is spread across this panorama taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Published Dec 15, 2014

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The Rocky Mountain Trench
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The Rocky Mountain Trench

As seen from the International Space Station, a long trench divides the Columbia Mountains and the Canadian Rockies.

Published Dec 13, 2014

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An Expanse of White in Bolivia
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An Expanse of White in Bolivia

The evaporation of several prehistoric lakes contributed to the formation of Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat.

Published Dec 9, 2014

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Central Saudi Arabia: Riyadh and dunes
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Central Saudi Arabia: Riyadh and dunes

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station took this photograph when the desert center of Arabia was partly obscured by a dusty atmosphere.

Published Dec 8, 2014

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Amazon River in Sunglint
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Amazon River in Sunglint

Astronauts use the Sun’s reflection point to reveal features that are otherwise difficult or impossible to see.

Published Dec 1, 2014

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Anvil on the Horizon
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Anvil on the Horizon

As moisture-filled thunderhead clouds expand upward through the atmosphere, they can hit a more stable layer and flatten into an anvil shape.

Published Nov 24, 2014

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Florida at Night
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Florida at Night

The peninsula is highly recognizable even at night, especially when looking north, as our map-trained brains expect.

Published Nov 17, 2014

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Smog or Fog? Actually, a Bit of Both
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Smog or Fog? Actually, a Bit of Both

A photograph by an astronaut leads us to a teachable moment about what’s in our air.

Published Nov 11, 2014

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El Paso and Ciudad Juárez
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El Paso and Ciudad Juárez

This astronaut photograph shows these sister cities on the Rio Grande, the second largest metropolitan area on the Mexico–U.S. border.

Published Nov 10, 2014

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Fire Scar and Dune Shapes, Southeastern Australia
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Fire Scar and Dune Shapes, Southeastern Australia

Recent fires burned away the vegetation cover of desert scrub to reveal a sheet of white sand and barchan dune patterns.

Published Nov 3, 2014

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Inland Delta of the Niger River
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Inland Delta of the Niger River

For millennia, the river has been the most important water supply in the western Sahara Desert.

Published Oct 27, 2014

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Kansas City Metropolitan Area
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Kansas City Metropolitan Area

The hometown of a 2014 World Series contender is brimming with baseball history.

Published Oct 25, 2014

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Southwestern USA at Night
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Southwestern USA at Night

This wide-angle panorama shows a huge swath of the western United States from Portland to Phoenix.

Published Oct 20, 2014

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The Many Colors of Electric Lights
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The Many Colors of Electric Lights

Distinct colors mark the communities and commerce along the Tsushima Strait, between Japan and South Korea.

Published Oct 19, 2014

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Egmont National Park, New Zealand
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Egmont National Park, New Zealand

This protected area on North Island is centered around a volcano and sits on a promontory that juts out into the Tasman Sea.

Published Oct 13, 2014

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The Persian Gulf, Clear and Clouded
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The Persian Gulf, Clear and Clouded

Two images show the region before and during a vast a dust storm.

Published Oct 6, 2014

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Amazon Forest Fires
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Amazon Forest Fires

Astronauts caught a glimpse of rainforest being cleared for agriculture in Brazil.

Published Sep 22, 2014

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Dust and Clouds Dance Over the Sahara
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Dust and Clouds Dance Over the Sahara

A massive dust storm filled the skies over Libya in early September 2014.

Published Sep 21, 2014

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Keeping an Eye on Edouard
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Keeping an Eye on Edouard

Researchers are deploying a mix of airborne and orbiting tools to unlock secrets of the most potent storms on Earth.

Published Sep 20, 2014

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Bloom in the Bering Sea
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Bloom in the Bering Sea

Changing conditions in the waters near Alaska promotes late summer phytoplankton growth.

Published Sep 19, 2014

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Polar Mesospheric Clouds, Ukraine
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Polar Mesospheric Clouds, Ukraine

PMCs have become brighter and thicker and have appeared farther south in recent years.

Published Sep 15, 2014

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Thunderstorms over Borneo
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Thunderstorms over Borneo

Different air flow patterns at low and high altitudes provoke compelling cloud features over Indonesia.

Published Sep 8, 2014

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King Sound
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King Sound

Off the northwestern coast of Australia, the sound has the second greatest daily tidal change in the world.

Published Sep 1, 2014

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Citizen Science with Night Images
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Citizen Science with Night Images

Astronauts collect a lot of photos of Earth at night, but they don't always know what they are looking at. You can help.

Published Aug 30, 2014

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Kulunda Steppes, Russia
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Kulunda Steppes, Russia

Strange spike patterns on the Siberian landscape caught the attention of astronauts on the ISS.

Published Aug 25, 2014

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Eastern Mediterranean Coastline at Night
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Eastern Mediterranean Coastline at Night

The bright lights of the cities are intersected and offset by the dark valley of the Jordan River and Dead Sea.

Published Aug 18, 2014

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Panorama of Hispaniola and the Caribbean
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Panorama of Hispaniola and the Caribbean

Astronauts captured an oblique view of the island that includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic as a wildfire raged in a national forest.

Published Aug 11, 2014

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Lake Urmia
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Lake Urmia

This shallow, saline lake in Iran is one of the largest in the Middle East. But drought and water withdrawals for farming are shrinking it.

Published Aug 4, 2014

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Okavango Delta
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Okavango Delta

This wetland in the interior of Botswana is an oasis for biodiversity in the midst of the arid Kalahari Desert.

Published Jul 28, 2014

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