Astronaut Photography

Coastlines of the Southern Baltic Sea
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Coastlines of the Southern Baltic Sea

Sunglint provides compelling light for the coastlines of northern Europe.

Published Jul 22, 2014

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Looking Back from Apollo 11
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Looking Back from Apollo 11

Transcripts from the flight to the Moon capture some of the wonder and novelty of looking back at Earth.

Published Jul 21, 2014

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The Peloponnese
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The Peloponnese

The great peninsula of Greece reaches into the Mediterranean and forms a crossroads with history.

Published Jul 14, 2014

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Dust Plumes, Namib Desert
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Dust Plumes, Namib Desert

Strong, hot winds known as “berg winds” (mountain winds) are lofting plumes of dust directly out into the Atlantic Ocean in this panoramic image taken from the International Space Station.

Published Jul 7, 2014

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Hurricane Arthur
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Hurricane Arthur

Hurricane Arthur is forecast to strengthen and graze or strike the Outer Banks of North Carolina tonight as a Category 2 hurricane.

Published Jul 4, 2014

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Desert Coast—Morocco, Western Sahara
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Desert Coast—Morocco, Western Sahara

Recently tweeted from the International Space Station, this image of the extremely arid West African coast of the Atlantic Ocean looks otherworldly.

Published Jun 30, 2014

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Night Colors over Russia
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Night Colors over Russia

The aurora borealis, the Moon, and Moscow light up a spring evening.

Published Jun 23, 2014

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Barkol Lake, Xinjiang
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Barkol Lake, Xinjiang

The green-brown waters of Lake Barkol sit within the pale shorelines of an ancient lake, hinting that the climate was once much wetter in this part of western China.

Published Jun 21, 2014

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National Stadium of Brasília
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National Stadium of Brasília

Astronauts have the best view of the city’s well-known “swept wing” city layout, which takes the form of a flying bird that is expressed in the curves of the boulevards. The stadium sits between the wings.

Published Jun 16, 2014

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New York City
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New York City

Aspects of city planning and building have effects on the urban heat island.

Published Jun 9, 2014

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Venice Lagoon
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Venice Lagoon

The waters around this Italian city provide a study in how humans affect the seas and how the seas affect human settlement.

Published Jun 2, 2014

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Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn
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Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn

Crews on the International Space Station seldom see the southern tip of Argentina and Chile in such clear weather.

Published May 26, 2014

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Hokkaido Agriculture, Northern Japan
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Hokkaido Agriculture, Northern Japan

Planted in Japan for at least the last four centuries, greenbelts protect coastlines from storms and sand movement; they are increasingly providing recreation areas as well.

Published May 19, 2014

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Melting Ice on Lake Baikal
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Melting Ice on Lake Baikal

The world’s deepest lake was shedding some of its ice cover when the space station passed over in April 2014.

Published May 12, 2014

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Ice in the Sea of Okhotsk
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Ice in the Sea of Okhotsk

Off the coast of northern Japan and eastern Russia, a swirl of currents push ice around in a clash of winter and summer currents.

Published Apr 28, 2014

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Arkansas River Meanders
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Arkansas River Meanders

Near the city of Little Rock, the river has meandered for decades, leaving its marks across the landscape.

Published Apr 21, 2014

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Grand Canyon Geology Lessons on View
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Grand Canyon Geology Lessons on View

You can almost sense the invisible tectonic forces within the Earth when you look at this geological icon from space.

Published Apr 14, 2014

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Port Aransas and the Intracoastal Waterway, Texas
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Port Aransas and the Intracoastal Waterway, Texas

Sitting inside barrier islands of the eastern and southern United States—and cutting through them in points—the waterway provides a safer passage for shipping commerce.

Published Apr 7, 2014

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Kavir Desert, Iran
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Kavir Desert, Iran

The lack of soil and vegetation allows parallel lines and sweeping curves of geological structure to appear quite clearly.

Published Mar 31, 2014

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Green Bay, Wisconsin
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Green Bay, Wisconsin

Snow and ice cover the landscape around this basin of Lake Michigan.

Published Mar 24, 2014

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Sensing Lightning from the Space Station
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Sensing Lightning from the Space Station

Bolts light up Earth’s atmosphere 4 million times a day. Scientists hope to observe a few.

Published Mar 23, 2014

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Bowknot Bend
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Bowknot Bend

The Green River in eastern Utah once carved soft sediment into meanders on a floodplain. Then the land and mountains rose and the river dug deep, preserving those meanders in stone.

Published Mar 17, 2014

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Ice stringers, Lake Michigan
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Ice stringers, Lake Michigan

Southwesterly winds pull strands of land-fast ice out into the lake from Washington Island and Detroit Island.

Published Mar 10, 2014

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Southern Patagonia Ice Field
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Southern Patagonia Ice Field

Straddling the southern Andes Mountains in Chile and Argentina, these glaciers have thinned significantly in the past four decades.

Published Mar 3, 2014

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The Koreas at Night
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The Koreas at Night

Night lights illustrate dramatically the relative economic activity of cities and countries.

Published Feb 24, 2014

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Gas Flaring in Iraq
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Gas Flaring in Iraq

An astronaut snapped this image of lines of gas flares at an oilfield in southern Iraq at night.

Published Feb 22, 2014

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Prince Albert, Western Cape, South Africa
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Prince Albert, Western Cape, South Africa

This small town at the foot of the Swartberg Mountains is a productive oasis in the Karoo semidesert, rich with olive groves, sheep and ostrich ranches, and (lately) tourists.

Published Feb 20, 2014

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Sochi at Night
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Sochi at Night

Astronauts who held the Olympic flame just three months ago now look down on it from space.

Published Feb 17, 2014

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Possession Island, East Island, and cloud patterns
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Possession Island, East Island, and cloud patterns

Small islands in the Crozet Archipelago of the southern Indian Ocean disturb the air flow above.

Published Feb 10, 2014

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Apoyeque Volcano, Nicaragua
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Apoyeque Volcano, Nicaragua

Two volcanic calderas dominate Nicaragua’s Chiltepe Peninsula, not far from Managua.

Published Feb 3, 2014

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