After more than a decade of inactivity, Mount St. Helens
After more than a decade of inactivity, Mount St. Helens rumbled back to life in September 2004. An ongoing series of tremors within the volcano coupled with upward movement of magma toward its caldera prompte... More
On May 14, 1607, a group of London-based entrepreneurs
On May 14, 1607, a group of London-based entrepreneurs and accompanying laborers, collectively known as the Virginia Company, made historicjamestowne.org/history/ landfall at Jamestown, Virginia, establishing... More
A major snow storm slid across the United States over
A major snow storm slid across the United States over the weekend of December 15, 2007, laying down ice and snow across the country from the Rockies to the Great Lakes. More than a foot of snow fell in some pla... More
Deep in the Sahara Desert lies a crater. Nearly a perfect
Deep in the Sahara Desert lies a crater. Nearly a perfect circle, it is 1.9 kilometers (1.2 miles) wide, and sports a rim 100 meters (330 feet) high. The crater sits in a vast plain of rocks so ancient they wer... More
Already swollen from late summer rain, Argentina's
Already swollen from late summer rain, Argentina's Parana River and its tributaries burst their banks under the onslaught of extreme rain during the last week of March 2007. When the clouds cleared on April 3, ... More
Ushering in the Future NASA Image of The Day
Dr. Werhner von Braun, Marshall Space Flight Center's first director, points out a detail regarding the first stage of the Saturn rocket to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. President Eisenhower was at Marshall t... More
Delaware Water Gap: Image of the Day
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is a National Park on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The park runs roughly 40 miles along the Delaware River and the Appalachian Mountains, which are i... More
Locust Swarms Develop on the Red Sea Coast: Image of the Day
Alone, the desert locust is nothing to worry about. It is a solitary creature that stays out of sight munching on plants. But when enough locusts are packed into a small area, they form aggressive swarms that m... More
von Karman Vortices: Image of the Day
Each of these swirling clouds is the result of a meteorological phenomenon known as a von Karman vortex. These vortices appeared over Alexander Selkirk Island in the southern Pacific Ocean. Rising precipitousl... More
Dead Sea: Image of the Day. NASA public domain image colelction.
In the Jordan rift valley, the continents of Africa and Asia are pulling apart from each other, and the land in between has been subsiding for millennia. The sinking has created the Dead Sea: rivers (most nota... More
Berlin: Image of the Day. NASA public domain image colelction.
Inhabited since medieval times, the city of Berlin grew up out of settlements along the Spree River in a region of Europe long known as ''the Mark of Brandenburg.'' From its first recorded settlements in 1237, ... More
Up and Away NASA Image of The Day
Space shuttle Discovery, mounted on leveling jacks, is surrounded by work platforms while undergoing servicing and preparations at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center for its ferry flight to the Kennedy Space ... More
At Work in Space NASA Image of The Day
Astronaut Tom Marshburn performs his first spacewalk and the STS-127 crew's second of the five scheduled to continue work on the International Space Station. Astronauts Marshburn and Dave Wolf (out of frame) su... More
Awaiting Launch NASA Image of The Day
TV monitors in Firing Room Four of the Launch Control Center show Launch Pad 39A with the space shuttle Endeavour and the inspection team at NASA's Kennedy... NASA Identifier: 367184main_200907120002HQ
Blue Like Mars NASA Image of The Day
This image shows the west-facing side of an impact crater in the mid-latitudes of Mars' northern hemisphere. Like many mid-latitude Martian craters, this one has gullies along its walls that are composed of alc... More
A Nebula by Any Other Name. NASA public domain image colelction.
Nebulae are enormous clouds of dust and gas occupying the space between the stars. Some have pretty names to match their good looks, for example the Rose nebula, while others have much more utilitarian names. S... More
The Nile : Image of the Day. NASA public domain image colelction.
This image of the northern portion of the Nile River was captured by the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer's (MISR's) nadir camera on January 30, 2001. The Nile is the longest river in the world, extending... More
Into the Eye of the Storm : Image of the Day
The Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) acquired this stereo image of Hurricane Alberto on August 19, 2000. At this time, the storm was located in the North Atlantic Ocean, about 1700 kilometers west ... More
Another New Lake in Egypt : Image of the Day
As the Space Shuttle Atlantis passed over southern Egypt in mid-March 2001, the STS-102 astronauts were able to document new flooding in the Toshka region west of Lake Nasser. The formation of the Toshka Lakes... More
Earth from Space : Image of the Day
This true-color image shows North and South America as they would appear from space 35,000 km (22,000 miles) above the Earth. The image is a combination of data from two satellites. The Moderate Resolution Ima... More
Phoenix Mountains Preserve : Image of the Day
The Phoenix Mountains Preserve consists of scattered, undeveloped islands in the middle of a sprawling city. The parks and recreation areas of the preserve are under pressure from Phoenix's spreading suburbs. P... More
Spring Dust Storm Smothers Beijing: Image of the Day
A few days earlier than usual, a large, dense plume of dust blew southward and eastward from the desert plains of Mongolia--quite smothering to the residents of Beijing. Citizens of northeastern China call this... More
El Nino, the Usual Suspect?: Image of the Day
So far, it has been a very cold winter for most of the Eastern United States and, as usual, El Nino is getting most of the blame. However, new satellite images from NASA show the real culprit may be www.gsfc.n... More
Tierra del Fuego: Image of the Day
The Tierra del Fuego -- a group of islands at the southern tip of South America -- have some of the worst weather in the world. The rugged islands poke into the ocean current circling Antarctica, and are almost... More
Platte River, Nebraska: Image of the Day
Shallow channels of water weave around sandy islands along the 310-mile course of the Platte River through Nebraska. The river carries snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming to the Missouri R... More
Wildfires Rage in Southern California : Image of the Day
Large plumes of smoke rising from devastating wildfires burning near Los Angeles and San Diego on Sunday, October 26, 2003, are highlighted in this set of images from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer... More
Hurricane Ignacio: Image of the Day
The MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this true-color image of Hurricane Ignacio as it was bearing down on the southern tip of Baja. At the time this image was taken, Ignacio was packing... More
Clouds over the Black Sea : Image of the Day
The atmosphere is a dynamic place, as is illustrated by clouds over the southwestern Black Sea in this true-color image from May 3, 2004. At the lowest level, thick white clouds are caught in a swirling air cu... More
Kara-Kul Structure, Tajikistan: Image of the Day
Near the center of this scene is the mountain lake Kara-Kul, located in eastern Tajikistan, high in the Pamir Mountain Range near the Afghan border. The 25-kilometer (16-mile) diameter lake sits at an elevation... More
Richat Structure, Mauritania: Image of the Day
This prominent circular feature, known as the Richat Structure, in the Sahara desert of Mauritania is often noted by astronauts because it forms a conspicuous 50-kilometer-wide (30-mile-wide) bull's-eye on the... More
Fires in the Great Plains: Image of the Day
Before European colonization of North America's Great Plains, spring and summer fires, triggered both by lightning and by Native Americans who used the fires to drive game, would race across the prairies, suppr... More
Hugli River, India: Image of the Day
India's Hugli River (sometimes spelled ''Hooghly'') is a Ganges River distributary, one of the many branches of the river that are collectively known as the ''Mouths of the Ganges.'' As the Ganges approaches th... More
Smoke Over the Aegean Sea: Image of the Day
The vacations of thousands of tourists were interrupted on August 21 when they were forced to evacuate resorts on the tip of the Kassandra Peninsula in north-central Greece because of a forest fire. Tourists an... More
Wasps Threaten Hawaiian Forests: Image of the Day
On the Hawaiian island Maui, more rain falls on the northern slopes than the southern slopes, producing a dramatic difference in forest types on the island's flanks. The drier, southern slopes are home to fores... More
Chlorophyll Around New Zealand: Image of the Day
Swirls of chlorophyll trace out the turbulent water patterns off the coasts of New Zealand in this image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer modis.gsfc.nasa.gov (MODIS) on NASA's aq... More
The colors may not look as brilliant as the reds and
The colors may not look as brilliant as the reds and golds you would see on the ground, but even from space, the difference between the summer and fall attire of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic is dramatic. The reflectio... More
A massive tornado tore through Enterprise, Alabama,
A massive tornado tore through Enterprise, Alabama, on March 1, 2007, leaving a swath of devastation about 180 meters (200 yards) wide through the small city. In the center of the storm's path was Enterprise Hi... More
Fires and Thick Smoke Across Southeast Asia: Image of the Day
Vehicles and power plants are not the only sources of air pollution and greenhouses gases: fires contribute, too. In the Northern Hemisphere spring, which is the end of dry season across much of Southeast Asia,... More
Wave Clouds over the Arabian Sea: Image of the Day
Like a massive, ethereal bird gliding into the Persian Gulf, a large cluster of wave clouds spans the Arabian Sea from Oman to India. This cloud formation is likely an undular bore, which is created in the inte... More
Source of the Amazon River: Image of the Day
Geographers long agreed that, while the Amazon might be the world's largest river by volume, the longest was likely the Nile. In 2007, however, the news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6759291.stm BBC reported that a... More
Tropical Storm Noel: Image of the Day
Tropical Depression 16 was intensifying into Tropical Storm Noel late in the morning of October 28, 2007, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ( modis.gsfc.nasa.gov MODIS ) on NASA's terra.na... More
Like ripples on a pond, a series of long, circular
Like ripples on a pond, a series of long, circular wave clouds radiate out from the coast of West Africa in this pair of photo-like images. The images were captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrorad... More
Bolivian Andes: Image of the Day
More than 7,000 kilometers (4,400 miles) long and more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) wide in places, the Andes Mountains encompass a wide range of climates and habitats, from snow-capped mountain peaks to rai... More
This true-color image over eastern China was acquired
This true-color image over eastern China was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA's Aqua satellite, on October 16, 2002. The scene reveals dozens of fires b... More
In eastern Africa, most areas experience one of two
In eastern Africa, most areas experience one of two rainfall patterns. Some places, such as western Kenya, have a single ''long rains'' season that runs from March until November or December. Other areas, such ... More
June and July 2007 brought drenching rain and devastating
June and July 2007 brought drenching rain and devastating floods to England. One of the hardest hit regions was Gloucestershire, in southwest England. The floods started in late June and continued throughout Ju... More
Intense, fast-moving bushfires raced across the Eyre
Intense, fast-moving bushfires raced across the Eyre Peninsula in south-central Australia on January 11, 2005. Driven by strong winds, the bushfires raced toward the sea in a devastating wall of flames. Some wh... More
Shepard Completes His Mission NASA Image of The Day
On May 5, 1961, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard piloted his Freedom 7 Mercury capsule in a 15-minute suborbital flight, becoming America's first astronaut. In this image, he is shown being hoisted aboard a U.S. Mar... More
Apollo 11 Comes Home NASA Image of The Day
The Apollo 11 crew await pickup by a helicopter from the USS Hornet, prime recovery ship for the historic lunar landing mission. The fourth man in the life raft is a United States Navy underwater demolition tea... More
SOFIA Makes the Grade NASA Image of The Day
In the darkened interior of NASA's SOFIA flying observatory, NASA and German scientists study the results of system tests on the telescope assembly, including... NASA Identifier: 360308main_image_1387_full
Making Preparations NASA Image of The Day
STS-128 astronaut Nicole Stott participates in an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit fit check in the Space Station Airlock Test Article (SSATA) in the Crew Systems Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space ... More
Gullies at the Edge of Hale Crater, Mars
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows gullies near the edge of Hale crater on southern Mars. Martian gullies carved into hill slopes and the walls of impact craters were discovered several ye... More
Soyuz Lifts Off NASA Image of The Day
Carrying Expedition 21 flight engineers Jeffrey Williams and Maxim Suraev, as well as a spaceflight participant, this Soyuz TMA-16 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 200... More
Beauty in the Night NASA Image of The Day
Billows of smoke and steam rise above Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida alongside space shuttle Discovery as it races toward space on the STS-128 mission. The STS-128 mission is the 30th ... More
Menkhib and the California Nebula
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, features one of the bright stars in the constellation Perseus, named Menkhib at upper left near the red dust cloud, surrounded by the large star-forming Cali... More
Securing a Place for History. NASA public domain image colelction.
A piece of NASA history landed at the Glenn Research Center's Visitor Center, now located at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The Apollo Command Module, used for the Skylab 3 mission in 1973, ... More
Deep Inside the Milky Way. NASA public domain image colelction.
This artist's impression shows how the Arches star cluster appears from deep inside the hub of our Milky Way Galaxy. Hidden from our direct view, the massive cluster lies 25,000 light-years away and is the dens... More
Chasma Boreale, Mars NASA Image of The Day
Chasma Boreale, a long, flat-floored valley, cuts deep into Mars' north polar icecap. Its walls rise about 4,600 feet, or 1,400 meters, above the floor. Where the edge of the ice cap has retreated, sheets of sa... More
Los Angeles : Image of the Day. NASA public domain image colelction.
This Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) image was acquired on July 23, 2001, and covers an area of 64 by 72 km. The data were processed to create a simulated natural color im... More
Early Snowstorm Sweeps Across Northern Plains : Image of the Day
A strong winter storm swept across the Northern Great Plains on October 24, 2001, bringing high winds, bitter cold temperatures, and heavy snowfall to much of the region. Parts of Canada, Montana, North Dakota... More
Garden City, Kansas: Image of the Day
Center pivot irrigation systems create red circles of healthy vegetation in this image of croplands near Garden City, Kansas. This image was acquired by landsat7.usgs.gov/ Landsat 7's Enhanced Thematic Map... More
Rio de Janeiro: Image of the Day
A dengue fever outbreak has plagued Rio de Janeiro since January 2002. Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease. The elimination of standing water, which is a breeding ground for the mosquitoes, is a primary de... More
Mississippi River Delta: Image of the Day
As the Mississippi River enters the Gulf of Mexico, it loses energy and dumps its load of sediment that it has carried on its journey through the middle of the North American continent. This pile of sediment, o... More
Spring Bloom in the North Atlantic: Image of the Day
People living at higher latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere are accustomed to seeing plants beginning to bloom at this time of year. But did you know that a spring bloom in the North Atlantic Ocean is also a ... More
Relief Map, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico: Image of the Day
This shaded relief image of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula show a subtle, but unmistakable, indication of the Chicxulub impact crater. Most scientists now agree that this impact was the cause of the Cretatious-Tert... More
Madrid, Spain: Image of the Day
Madrid, Spain, is world renowned for its unique charm and its exhilarating cultural life. Museums, art galleries, palaces, and botanical gardens are at the heart of the city, pictured here in this Advanced Spac... More
SORCE Completes First Year of Mission: Image of the Day
NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) satellite reached a major milestone recently by completing the first year of its mission to gather the most comprehensive measures ever made of the Sun's to... More
Alpine, Arizona: Image of the Day
The mountain community of Alpine, Arizona (image center), can be found in the midst of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. Situated at the eastern end of the White Mountains and near the headwaters of the S... More
Lake Oahe, Dakotas: Image of the Day
The Missouri River and its surrounding ecosystems are struggling in the tight fist of a 6-year drought. In North Dakota, 374-kilometer-long Lake Oahe, the nation's fourth largest reservoir, is so low that it ha... More
In the state of Acre in western Brazil, farms and pastures
In the state of Acre in western Brazil, farms and pastures are surrounded by large, undisturbed areas of Amazon Rainforest. Since January 2005, many areas in the state have been experiencing severe drought, and... More
Wave Clouds Near Amsterdam Island: Image of the Day
In mid-December 2005, the diminutive Amsterdam Island made waves -- not in the Indian Ocean where it resides, but in the clouds overhead. Described casually as wave clouds, these features took on the shape of a... More
Nouakchott, Mauritania: Image of the Day
While many worry about urban areas slowly engulfing nearby nature, once in a while the tables are turned. Such is the case in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. This city may be slowly obliterated by nature... More
Winds of Hurricane Katrina: Image of the Day
When earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13082 Hurricane Katrina moved over the Gulf Coast of the United States on August 29, 2005, its effects were felt far from the reach... More
Melting Days on Greenland: Image of the Day
Greenland is the world's largest island, containing the second largest ice sheet on Earth, with a surface extent of approximately 1.75 million square kilometers and an average thickness of 2.3 kilometers (1.6 m... More
Fire Scar in Lake Okeechobee: Image of the Day
Florida's multi-year drought reached extreme levels in late spring 2007, and the impacts ranged from water restrictions to dangerous wildfires. The water levels in Lake Okeechobee hit record low levels in May a... More
A mosaic of sea ice shifted across the Bering Sea west
A mosaic of sea ice shifted across the Bering Sea west of Alaska on February 5, 2008. On either side of the Bering Strait (top center), the land was blanketed with snow that highlighted the mountainous terrain.... More
In 2000, the Aral Sea was in /IOTD/view.php?id=1396
In 2000, the Aral Sea was in /IOTD/view.php?id=1396 grave condition. This inland sea, which was once Earth's fourth-largest lake, had been steadily shrinking since the 1960s, when Soviet-era irrigation projec... More
During the first half of 1993, the U.S. Midwest experienced
During the first half of 1993, the U.S. Midwest experienced unusually heavy rains. Much of the United States in the upper reaches of the Mississippi River drainage basin received more than 1.5 times their aver... More
By the Sea of Japan, Russia curls around the tip of
By the Sea of Japan, Russia curls around the tip of China, creating the rare situation where part of China actually lies north of Russia. At the juncture of these odd borders sits www.worldlakes.org/lakedetail... More
Just north of Athens lies Mount Parnitha, much of which
Just north of Athens lies Mount Parnitha, much of which is a national park. Home to numerous endemic (unique) species, Parnitha comprises one of the few remaining forested areas near Athens. On June 28, 2007, t... More
On May 9, 2000, the Landsat 7 satellite acquired an
On May 9, 2000, the Landsat 7 satellite acquired an image of the area around Los Alamos, New Mexico. The Landsat 7 satellite acquired this image from 427 miles in space through its sensor called the Enhanced Th... More
In preparation for hosting the 2008 Olympic games,
In preparation for hosting the 2008 Olympic games, Beijing set up air-quality monitoring stations throughout the city. Producing ''Blue Sky'' ratings, the stations took daily measurements of air pollution, with... More
NASA's terra.nasa.gov/ Terra satellite observed many
NASA's terra.nasa.gov/ Terra satellite observed many fires burning in northern Sakha, a Russian province in northeast Asia. These true-color scenes were acquired by the modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Moderate-resolut... More
Logging in Northern Republic of Congo: Image of the Day
Logging has impacts on forests that go beyond the loss of trees themselves. It can change the number and diversity of other organisms in the ecosystem, open remote areas to poaching, increase the likelihood tha... More
Topographic Map of the Iturralde Structure, Bolivia: Image of the Day
An 8-kilometer (5-mile) wide crater of possible impact origin is shown in this view of an isolated part of the Bolivian Amazon from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). The circular feature at the cente... More
Denali, Alaska: Image of the Day
The 6,194-meter-tall (20,320-foot) Mt. McKinley is a towering double-peaked mountain in the middle of the Alaska Range, made all the more impressive for rising thousands of feet above its neighbors. As the ta... More
Glacial Collapse Threatens Huaraz, Peru: Image of the Day
A chunk of glacier was threatening to fall into an Andean lake and cause major flooding in a Peruvian city of 60,000. A fissure has appeared in the glacier that feeds the Lake Palcacocha near the city of Huaraz... More
Istanbul : Image of the Day. NASA public domain image colelction.
This April 7, 2000 image of Istanbul, Turkey shows a 21 by 24 km Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sub-scene in the visible and infrared channels. Vegetation appears red, an... More
Cape Verde, Mars NASA Image of The Day
This Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Pancam "super resolution" mosaic of the approximately 6 meter (20 foot) high cliff face of the Cape Verde promontory was taken by the rover from inside Victoria Crater, d... More
Ares V Scale Model NASA Image of The Day
A worker completes installation of a 25-foot-tall scale model of the Ares V rocket outside the Visitor Center at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The Ares V cargo launch vehicle will be the "heavy lif... More
Refuge NASA Image of The Day. NASA public domain image colelction.
Situated as it is near the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, the Kennedy Space Center hosts space shuttles and this symbol of our nation--the majestic bald eagle. A mature eagle stands watch near its nes... More
The Possibility of a Brand New World
Several of the dwarf galaxies in the Hickson Compact Group 31 are slowly merging. Will the result of these galactic collisions be one big elliptical galaxy? Most assuredly. The pictured galaxies of Hickson Comp... More
Celestial Fireworks NASA Image of The Day
Like an Independence Day fireworks display, a young, glittering collection of stars looks like an aerial burst. The cluster is surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust -- the raw material for new star ... More
Making History NASA Image of The Day
Pad Leader Guenter Wendt, kneeling, supervises the egress of Apollo 11 crews from spacecraft following a countdown demonstration test. Visible in hatchway is Command Module Pilot Michael Collins. Image Credit: ... More
Venus Rising NASA Image of The Day
This hemispheric view of Venus was created using more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994 Magellan mission, and is centered on the planet's North Pole. The Magellan spacecraft ima... More
Anchored NASA Image of The Day. NASA public domain image colelction.
Anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint, NASA astronaut Steve Bowen participates in the STS-133 mission's second spacewalk as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. Duri... More
Argentina from MODIS : Image of the Day
This Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image over Argentina was acquired on April 24, 2000, and was produced using a combination of the sensor's 250-m and 500-m resolution ''true color'' ban... More
Eddies off Tasmania : Image of the Day
This true-color satellite image shows a large phytoplankton bloom, several hundred square kilometers in size, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Tasmania. In this scene, the rich concentration of micros... More
MISR Sights the Bering Strait : Image of the Day
With the Seward Peninsula of Alaska to the east, and Chukotskiy Poluostrovof Siberia to the west, the Bering Strait separates the United States and the Russian Federation by only 90 kilometers. It is named for ... More
Nyiragongo Volcano Erupts in the Congo: Image of the Day
Mount Nyiragongo, located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, erupted today (January 17, 2002), ejecting a large cloud of smoke and ash high into the sky and spewing lava down three sides of the volcano. ... More