Posts Tagged earth
From Orbit
Posted by Danielle in Perspectives on September 3, 2010
I wish I knew where this picture came from. Can anyone give me a hint? @terrazoom has kindly identified this image: Andes Mountains as seen from Gemini 7. Thanks, John! :D
I chose this picture because it is pretty I am blogging to you… from orbit. Or, well, my body is here on the ground; my head is in orbit, for sure. I found out Wednesday that I was picked for NASA’s STS-133 Launch Tweetup, and it is neither punny nor exaggerating to say that I am over the Moon about it. Deliriously happy. Giddy, and excited, and overwhelmed with gratitude to NASA for this opportunity! I will definitely be talking about this more, closer to launch, and I will certainly be tweeting (and blogging) from Florida, come October 30th!
Into the Light
I was reading the text that went along with this NASA Image of the Day (quoted below), and what came to mind was… the above. Or maybe this:
Anyway, here’s the quote that inspired this post (emphasis mine):
Reflecting on his experience as he emerged from the craft into the daylight on the Expedition 24 mission’s second spacewalk, astronaut Doug Wheelock said “the colors of the Earth just explode at you as you exit toward the planet. Notice what looks like scorch marks on the hatch thermal cover, the effect of vacuum and atomic oxygen on the threads and thread sealant used on the thermal cover. The ‘smell’ of space follows suit, I’ve heard it described like burnt cake or cookies, or like the smell of an extinguished match.”
And the photo it went with:
Been There.
Moonrise taken during ISS Expedition 15, by @Astro_Clay
Two gorgeous views of the Moon from the ISS, one from Expedition 15 (top), the other from a week ago (bottom.) As an aside, I went out for the first time (intentionally) looking for the ISS this weekend, and saw it twice! It was much brighter than normal (so SpaceWeather.com told me) and was quite easy to spot. Sunday night, it was about the brightness (in my unschooled opinion) of Venus, cutting across the twilight sky. Very beautiful.
Moon over Earth, photo by @Astro_Wheels
Lens Flare
This is one of those images that I find absolutely entrancing, but I’m not sure everyone would “get it”. It’s not the most fantastic on-orbit image I’ve seen, and in fact, the sun is lighting every possible imperfection in the glass, but that’s part of what makes it for me — the “lens flare” effect. Except this isn’t Photoshop, or one of innumerable science fiction anthology covers. It’s the sun! I love the purple rays shooting out (and the rainbows.)
S131-E-007752 (7 April 2010) — The station’s robotic Canadarm2 grapples the Leonardo Multi-purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) from the payload bay of the docked space shuttle Discovery (STS-131) for relocation to a port on the Harmony node of the International Space Station. The bright sun and Earth’s horizon provide the backdrop for the scene. Canadian-built Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (SPDM), is visible at bottom center.
There’s poetry beyond measure in this picture. The brightness of the sun, the span of the rays, the color coming from white… the immense expanse of black, the curve of blue that represents air and life and all of our tiny selves… so caught up and distracted by everything, when our lives are just a vapor. Dust, dandelion fluff. And the sun will keep beaming forth light and color, long after we’re gone.
Blue Marble, Silver Moon
I think it’s good to look at our home now and then, from a different perspective than the ground-view we get every day. The image above is simply stunning:
This spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet. Much of the information contained in this image came from a single remote-sensing device-NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. Flying over 700 km above the Earth onboard the Terra satellite, MODIS provides an integrated tool for observing a variety of terrestrial, oceanic, and atmospheric features of the Earth.
And below, an enchanting view of the Moon, as seen from the International Space Station by astronaut Noguchi Soichi on February 28:
Another beautiful “Silver” moon! I love it! Enjoy full moon tonite, everybody.
Photo by Astro_Soichi, twitter.com/astro_soichi
Illuminated Crescent
Illuminated crescent of Earth showing part of South America and Antarctica, image courtesy of ESA
A beautiful image of home from ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft:
The image above shows the illuminated crescent of Earth showing part of South America and Antarctica. This OSIRIS image was acquired with the the narrow-angle camera from a distance of 350 000 km at 22:28 UTC last night. The resolution is 6.5 km/pixel.
Outer Space Adventure
Posted by Danielle in Children's Items on November 3, 2009
This falls into the “too cute to not post” category — a mobile for your littlest astronaut. I like the gentle shapes.
Splashdown-spam
Posted by Danielle in Picspam, Special Events on July 24, 2009
40 years ago today, this happened. [points up] Which led to exciting times for the astronauts… [points down]
Well, the point was, not only did we land on the moon in 1969, the astronauts lived to tell about it, and in fact came back here:
…which really, is quite remarkable.
I’ve always liked Google’s logo designs for special events, and for the 40th on Monday, they had this up, which I find admirably subtle:
Returning
Posted by Danielle in Picspam, Special Events on July 22, 2009
This picture was actually taken 40 years ago *yesterday*…. but who’s counting? Not me.
After the most famous voyage of modern times, it was time to go home. After proving that humanity has the ability to go beyond the confines of planet Earth, the first humans to walk on another world — Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin — flew the ascent stage of their Lunar Module back to meet Michael Collins in the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module. Pictured above on 1969 July 21, the ascending spaceship was captured by Collins making its approach, with the Moon below, and Earth far in the distance.
Long Way From Home
Posted by Danielle in Picspam, Special Events on July 17, 2009
40 years ago today, astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were on their way to the Moon.
AS11-36-5355 (17 July 1969) — Most of Africa and portions of Europe and Asia can be seen in this spectacular photograph taken from the Apollo 11 spacecraft during its trans-lunar coast toward the moon. Apollo 11, with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, onboard was already 98,000 nautical miles from Earth when this picture was made. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Collins remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) “Columbia” in lunar orbit.
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About Silver Rockets
This blog celebrates space exploration, human spaceflight and the heavens, through lots and lots ofimages.
My name is Danielle Signor, and I am a space cadet. STS-133 NASA Tweetup Attendee!
This is a blog, NOT A SHOP. Click the images for their source or purchase link, if available.
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