On February 27, 2014, we published an Image of the Day of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite soaring above Tanegashima Space Center like a candle in the sky. However, that wasn’t the only spectacular photograph of the night launch that chief NASA photographer Bill Ingalls (@ingallsimages) captured. I collected a few of my favorites below, and […]
Out of the Fog
Most years, the Swiss Air Force hosts an air show in the fall that sends planes roaring over the Axalp-Ebenfluh firing range near Brienz, Switzerland. Spectators often congregate at the Axalp, a resort area on a terrace that overlooks Brienz from an elevation of about 1,500 meters (4,900 feet). While waiting for the 2013 show […]
February Puzzler
Every month we offer a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. The February 2014 puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what the image shows, what part of the world we are looking at, when the image was acquired, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. Your answer […]
A Quick Guide to NASA’s Newest Satellite
Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is a name worth remembering. First of all, it’s a satellite. On February 27, 2014, GPM’s Core Observatory is scheduled to rocket into space from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center carrying a radar and radiometer capable of measuring precipitation in new ways. However, this joint NASA/JAXA mission is bigger than just one satellite. The scientists behind GPM are hoping that […]
The Landsat 5 Photobomb
It’s funny what you can find in a satellite image. Mike Gartley, a research scientist at Rochester Institute of Technology, spotted the Landsat 5 satellite lurking in a Landsat 8 image of northwestern Brazil. Landsat 5 once flew in the orbit that Landsat 8 now lives in. But in January 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey lowered […]
Reader Pics: Blooms in the Water
Last week we shared an image of an 800-kilometer long bloom of marine protists off the coast of Brazil. In satellite imagery, the bloom appeared navy to black in color, even though the species—Myrionecta rubra—appears red when viewed close-up. The blooms tend to occur just below the water surface, so much red light that the […]
Reader Pics: Sundogs
Halos have a long and rich history in religious art, usually symbolizing the presence of someone or something divine. In the physical sciences, the beautiful displays of light are a sign of something more ordinary—the presence of hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals that make up cirrus clouds. As gravity pulls the ice crystals downward, their faces […]