From remarkable ‘red lightning sprite' to once-in-a-lifetime comet – 7 breathtaking snaps captured by Nasa astronauts
Fortunately, astronauts are not only equipped with suites of scientific instruments, but cameras too - so we at home can enjoy the view as well.
Advertisement
7
A red lightning sprite was captured during a storm near the Texas-Mexico border
Credit: Nichole Ayers/NASA
Lightning sprite
Nasa astronaut Nichole Ayers caught a phenomenon known as a sprite near the Texas-Mexico border from the ISS, some 250 miles above Earth.
'Just. Wow. As we went over Mexico and the US this morning, I caught this sprite," Ayers wrote on X earlier this month.
"Sprites are TLEs or Transient Luminous Events, that happen above the clouds and are triggered by intense electrical activity in the thunderstorms below.
"We have a great view above the clouds, so scientists can use these types of pictures to better understand the formation, characteristics, and relationship of TLEs to thunderstorms."
Advertisement
READ MORE ON SPACE
Ayers snapped the picture with a Nikon Z9 using a 50mm lens (f/1.2, ¼ sec, ISO 6400) as part of a time-lapse set up in the Cupola - the domed window module on board the ISS.
"It takes planning, timing, and a lot of pictures to capture such a rare phenomenon," she added.
7
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS
Credit: Don Pettit/NASA
7
The icy comet seen alongside aurora
Credit: SWNS
Advertisement
Once-in-a-lifetime comet
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS - dubbed the 'once-in-a-lifetime comet' - was photographed by Nasa astronaut Don Pettit from the ISS last autumn.
Scientists at the Royal Astronomical Society dubbed it the "comet of the century" because of its brightness and rarity.
Most read in Science
The icy comet won't be visible on Earth again for another 80,000 years - making the sighting particularly rare.
7
These are two of Earth's most colorful upper atmospheric phenomena
Credit: Nasa
Advertisement
Aurora
meets airglow
Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peake shared this snap or aurora - or Northern Lights - dancing near Earth's airglow in 2016.
In his whopping 340 days in space, Kelly was able to provide some stunning images of Earth seen from above.
These are two of Earth's most colorful upper atmospheric phenomena.
The wavy green, red-topped wisps of aurora borealis appear to intersect the faint red-yellow band of airglow.
Advertisement
Though they appear at similar altitudes, aurora and airglow are different.
Nighttime airglow - also known as nightglow - is a type of chemiluminescence that occurs all around the Earth, all the time.
This is where light is emitted from chemical interactions between oxygen, nitrogen, and other molecules in the upper atmosphere.
Auroras, on the other hand, are caused by charged solar particles colliding with Earth's atmosphere.
Advertisement
7
The striking image was snapped by Nasa's Aqua satellite between June 22 and Dec. 31, 2023
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Wanmei Liang and Lauren Dauphin
'Devil horned' volcano
While technically snapped by data visualisers at Nasa's Earth Observatory, this "devilish" Russian volcano was captured spitting out a 1,000-mile-long stream of smoke into Earth's atmosphere.
The striking image was snapped by Nasa's Aqua satellite between June 22 and Dec. 31, 2023.
It was during an active eruption phase of the volcano, known as Klyuchevskoy or sometimes Klyuchevskaya Sopka - an area home to more than 300 volcanoes.
Advertisement
The two-pronged devil horns depict twin lava flows spewing out of the volcanoes mouth.
7
Astronauts Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang participate in an extravehicular activity, December 12, 2006
Credit: NASA
Spacewalk
The ISS has been orbiting Earth for nearly three decades, after first launching in November 1998.
Astronauts have conducted 275 spacewalks since the station opened - one of the riskiest jobs an astronaut will ever undertake.
Advertisement
Backdropped by New Zealand and the Cook Strait in the Pacific Ocean, astronauts Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang participate in an extravehicular activity, December 12, 2006.
Their job was to support the construction of the orbital outpost, and proved the source of quite the stellar image.
7
False-color images combine and rearrange colour channels from multiple sources to visualise new details
Credit: Don Pettit/X
Ganges river
The Ganges river, the world's largest river delta, was photographed in near-infrared from the ISS by Pettit.
Advertisement
The ISS utilises near-infrared imagery for various scientific purposes, including atmospheric studies and Earth observation.
It is key to capturing images of the Earth's airglow, clouds, and other surface features during nighttime.
The end result are incredible false-colour images that show Earth in a completely new light.
False-color images combine and rearrange colour channels from multiple sources to visualise new details.
Advertisement
These details are either things that cannot be seen by the human eye - or aspects that may be obscured in true colour images, such as healthy vegetation or different soil types.
All you need to know about planets in our solar system
Our solar system is made up of nine planets with Earth the third closest to the Sun. But each planet has its own quirks, so find out more about them all...
How old is
How many moons does
What colour is
How far away is
How big is
How many moons does
Does
How many moons does
How big is
How hot is the
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Journal
a day ago
- The Journal
NASA says it will lose about 20 percent of its workforce as a result of Trump cuts
The US space agency NASA will lose about 3,900 employees under Donald Trump's sweeping effort to trim the federal workforce — at the same time as the president prioritises plans for crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. In an emailed statement, NASA said around 3,000 employees took part in the second round of its deferred resignation program, which closed late yesterday. Combined with the 870 who joined the first round and regular staff departures, the agency's civil servant workforce is set to drop from more than 18,000 before Trump took office in January to roughly 14,000, a more than 20 per cent decrease. Those leaving the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on the deferred resignation program will be placed on administrative leave until an agreed departure date. An agency spokesperson said the figures could shift slightly in the coming weeks. Advertisement 'Safety remains a top priority for our agency as we balance the need to become a more streamlined and more efficient organization and work to ensure we remain fully capable of pursuing a Golden Era of exploration and innovation, including to the Moon and Mars,' the agency said. Earlier this year, the Trump administration's proposed NASA budget put a return to the Moon and a journey to Mars front and centre, slashing science and climate programs. The White House says it wants to focus on 'beating China back to the Moon and putting the first human on Mars.' China is aiming for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030, while the US program, called Artemis, has faced repeated delays. NASA is still run by an acting administrator after the administration's initial pick to lead the agency, tech billionaire Jared Isaacman — endorsed by former Trump advisor Elon Musk — was ultimately rejected by the Republican president. © Agence France-Presse
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- The Irish Sun
Stunning space snap hides rare ‘one-in-a-thousand' secret – and it may be the first time it has ever been seen by humans
A STUNNING photo has captured a rare secret among the stars - and it could be the first time the phenomenon has ever been seen. Astronomers believe they have photographed the first ever birth of a supermassive black hole. While experts have gained an understanding of what these A supermassive black hole weighs millions, to tens of billions, of Suns, and form the centre of almost every galaxy. It forms the gravitational centre for everything else - including stars and planets - to revolve around. However, scientists now believe they have seen a Read more Tech 1 Three supermassive black holes can be seen in a newfound discovery Credit: NASA This could provide valuable insight into the space wonder. The process was captured in a pair of galaxies whose light has travelled for 8.3 million years according to The discovery was made by a Yale-led astronomy team, in a galaxy they've called "Infinity". Its name comes from its figure-eight shape, as three supermassive black holes can be seen as the galaxies collide. Most read in Science Within each galaxy a supermassive black hole can be seen at its nucleus, with a third glowing at their overlap. The team used a CLOSE CALL 'It was a sign' - Clare girl, 10, spots surprise comet that 'shines brighter than Venus' Within the cloud of gas at its centre, they identified a supermassive black hole. Unusually, the black hole was not located at the nucleus of the vast galaxy, but rather in the middle of where they were colliding. This gave them an indication that they might be witnessing an unprecedented event. There are currently a number of theories regarding the This includes the "light seeds" theory, in which small black holes are believed to have been formed when stars' cores collapsed and exploded. These smaller black holes are believed to have then merged into the supermassive versions. However, Instead, the "heavy seeds" theory has been favoured by some astronomers. This argues that larger black holes can form when large clouds of gas collapse, although typically this is known to form stars. The Infinity galaxy could support the "heavy seeds" theory by showing how, in extreme conditions, a gas collapse could create a black hole. The team is pursuing ongoing research to confirm the findings.
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Galway-sized object in space 'may be alien spacecraft coming to attack'
A mysterious object the size of Galway could potentially be an aggressive alien spacecraft set to attack Earth in November, a new study suggests. Earlier this month, experts confirmed the discovery of a rare interstellar visitor, only the third ever detected, speeding through our Solar System at an extraordinary pace. A draft scientific paper published on Tuesday proposes that the object, known as 3I/ATLAS, might be extra-terrestrial technology and could launch a surprise attack on our planet. The researchers suggest that the object's orbit is such that it would make it easier for an intelligent alien craft to approach Earth undetected. The report claims that when it gets closest to the Sun in late November, the object will be hidden from Earth's view, allowing it to execute a covert high-speed manoeuvre to slow down and remain in the Solar System to secretly prepare for an attack. Scientists also note that 3I/ATLAS has an unusual trajectory that brings it very close to planets like Venus, Mars and Jupiter, something highly unlikely to occur by chance, with less than a 0.005% probability. An artist's impression of what the interstellar object in the Solar System could be (Image: NASA / SWNS) Comet 3I/ATLAS streaks across a dense star field in this image captured by the Gemini North telescope's Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (Image: NSF NOIRLab/ Ob et al. / SWNS) One of the authors of the paper, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, is Avi Loeb, a renowned Harvard astrophysicist known for his controversial research and outspoken views on the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. He gained widespread attention for suggesting that the 2017 interstellar object 'Oumuamua might be an artificial probe created by an alien civilisation, based on its unusual acceleration and shape, reports the Mirror. Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl, both from the Initiative for Interstellar Studies in London, have teamed up with their colleague to pen a paper that delves into the realm of the hypothetical regarding interstellar objects. The trio clarify their stance in the paper: "This paper is contingent on a remarkable but, as we shall show, testable hypothesis, to which the authors do not necessarily ascribe, yet is certainly worthy of an analysis and a report." Despite the speculative nature of their work, they caution: "The consequences, should the hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity, and would possibly require defensive measures to be undertaken (though these might prove futile)." They also note the intrinsic value of their hypothesis, stating: "The hypothesis is an interesting exercise in its own right, and is fun to pursue, irrespective of its likely validity." The celestial body in question, now catalogued as 3I/ATLAS (formerly known as A11pl3Z), is thought to originate from a far-flung star system and hurtles through space at speeds exceeding 60 kilometres per second. First detected on July 1 by the ATLAS survey telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, 3I/ATLAS has sparked curiosity and speculation. It's estimated to measure somewhere between 10 and 20 kilometres across, though it could present a smaller profile if it's predominantly made up of reflective ice. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
