Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-134 (201104280022HQ)

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-134 (201104280022HQ), a photo by nasa hq photo on Flickr.

The space shuttle Endeavour is seen on launch pad 39a as a storm passes by prior to the rollback of the Rotating Service Structure (RSS), Thursday, April 28, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. During the 14-day mission, Endeavour and the STS-134 crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for Dextre. Launch is targeted for Friday, April 29 at 3:47 p.m. EDT. Photo credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

night reflections

night reflections, upload feito originalmente por davedehetre.

Stones of Stenness

Stones of Stenness, upload feito originalmente por JanuaryJoe.



I'M LAZY!

clouds over africa

Cumulonimbus Cloud over Africa is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 16 crewmember on the International Space Station. Deemed by many meteorologists as one of the most impressive of cloud formations, cumulonimbus (from the Latin for "puffy" and "dark") clouds form due to vigorous convection of warm and moist unstable air. Surface air warmed by the Sun-heated ground surface rises, and if sufficient atmospheric moisture is present, water droplets will condense as the air mass encounters cooler air at higher altitudes. The air mass itself also expands and cools as it rises due to decreasing atmospheric pressure, a process known as adiabatic cooling. This type of convection is common in tropical latitudes year-round and during the summer season at higher latitudes. As water in the rising air mass condenses and changes from a gaseous to a liquid state, it releases energy to its surroundings, further heating the surrounding air and leading to more convection and rising of the cloud mass to higher altitudes. This leads to the characteristic vertical "towers" associated with cumulonimbus clouds, an excellent example of which is visible in this image (right). If enough moisture is present to condense and continue heating the cloud mass through several convective cycles, a tower can rise to altitudes of approximately 10 kilometers at high latitudes to 20 kilometers in the tropics -- before encountering a region of the atmosphere known as the tropopause. The tropopause is characterized by a strong temperature inversion where the atmosphere is dryer and no longer cools with altitude. This halts further vertical motion of the cloud mass, and causes flattening and spreading of the cloud tops into an anvil-shaped cloud as illustrated by this oblique photograph. The view direction is at an angle from the vertical, rather than straight "down" towards the Earth's surface. The image, photographed while the International Space Station was passing over western Africa near the Senegal-Mali border, shows a fully-formed anvil cloud with numerous smaller cumulonimbus towers rising near it. The high energetics of these storm systems typically make them hazardous due to associated heavy precipitation, lightning, high wind speeds and possible tornadoes.

Smile

Appulse is an astronomical term that refers to the very near approach of one celestial object to another, as seen from a third body. Usually it refers to the close approach of two planets together in the sky, or of the Moon to a star or planet as the Moon follows its monthly orbit around Earth, as seen by an observer located on Earth. An "appulse" can also be referred to as a conjunction.
future conjunctions

photo credits
Jamie Russell
Rhoderic Lourens
Dave Jurasevich

photo session: storms from space

all photos courtesy by NASA

100th post and no one cares!

the eye of the storm

This spectacular, low-oblique photograph shows the bowl-shaped eye (center of photograph) of Typhoon Yuri in the western Pacific Ocean just west of the Northern Mariana Islands. The eye wall descends almost to the sea surface, a distance of nearly 45,000 feet (13,800 meters). In this case the eye is filled with clouds, but in many cases the sea surface can be seen through the eye. Yuri grew to super typhoon status, packing maximum sustained winds estimated at 165 miles (270 kilometers) per hour, with gusts reaching an estimated 200 miles (320 kilometers) per hour. The storm moved west toward the Philippine Islands before turning northeast into the north Pacific Ocean, thus avoiding any major landmass.

with full glory, we shine!

Very delicate foggy solar coronae (+) is seen over the statue of Ruy Diaz de Vivar in San Francisco, USA.

Author: Mila Zinkova

lights of the south

Aurora australis (Sep 11, 2005) as captured by NASA's IMAGE satellite, digitally overlaid onto the Blue Marble composite image. More information and images at wikipedia.org

your path to divinity

The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, shines above Bear Lake, Alaska.

Author: United States Air Force photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang.

(inspired by jesu)

storm season: sepat

Super Typhoon Sepat came ashore in Taiwan on August 17, 2007, after bringing torrential rain and flooding to the Philippines the day before. Flights to and from Tapei, the island’s capital, were canceled and Chinese authorities were calling all ships at sea to come back to shore in anticipation of the powerful typhoon crossing the Taiwan Strait and coming ashore on the mainland, said news reports. The typhoon was classified as Category Five typhoon, at the very top of the scale, with sustained winds of 184 kilometers per hour (114 miles per hour), according to CNN.
At 10:25 a.m. local time (02:25 UTC) on August 16, 2007, when the MODIS on NASA's Terra satellite captured this image, Super Typhoon Sepat was still well away from its coming encounter with the Philippines and Taiwan. Winds were measured at a sustained speed as high as 257 km/hr (161 mph) at the time of this image, according to the University of Hawaii’s Tropical Storm Information Center.
The storm’s strength is evident in this image from its large size, well-defined spiral structure, and obvious large eye. Some clouds are present in the central eye: a completely clear eye is a tell-tale sign of the most powerful storms, though some clouds can be present in the eye of a powerful storm as is the case here.

Raining Perseids

Comet dust will rain down on planet Earth, streaking through dark skies in the annual Perseid meteor shower. While enjoying the anticipated space weather, astronomer Fred Bruenjes recorded a series of many 30 second long exposures spanning about six hours on the night of 2004 August 11/12 using a wide angle lens. Combining those frames which captured meteor flashes, he produced this dramatic view of the Perseids of summer. Although the comet dust particles are traveling parallel to each other, the resulting shower meteors clearly seem to radiate from a single point on the sky in the eponymous constellation Perseus. The radiant effect is due to perspective, as the parallel tracks appear to converge at a distance. Bruenjes notes that there are 51 Perseid meteors in the composite image, including one seen nearly head-on.

Credit & Copyright: Fred Bruenjes

earth lights

(click for full detail)

orion rising

Orion always comes up sideways ... and was caught in the act earlier this month by astronomer Jimmy Westlake, stargazing eastward over the Rocky Mountains north of Leadville, Colorado, USA. To make this gorgeous image, Westlake placed his camera on a tripod for two exposures. The first lasted for 18 minutes allowing the stars to trail as they rose above the mountain range. After a minute long pause, the second exposure began and lasted only 25 seconds decorating the end of each trail with a celestial point of light. The three bright stars in Orion's belt stand in a nearly vertical line above the mountain peak right of center. Hanging from his belt, the stars and nebulae of the Hunter's sword follow the slope down and to the right. A festive yellow-orange Betelgeuse is the brightest star above the peak just left of center, but brighter still, planet Saturn shines near the upper left corner. In the foreground on planet Earth, a frozen lake and snowy mountains are lit by a four day old crescent Moon.

Credit & Copyright: Jimmy Westlake (Colorado Mountain College)

largest known star

VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa) is a red hypergiant located in the constellation of Canis Major. This is the largest known star and one of the most luminous stars known.

Roberta M. Humphreys (2006) estimates the radius of VY CMa is between 1800 and 2100 solar radii. If our sun were replaced with such a star, its surface could extend to the orbit of Saturn. If we take its radius to be that higher figure of 2100 solar radii, it would take more than 8 hours for light to travel around its circumference. If it were possible for a human to walk on the surface of Canis Majoris, at 3 miles an hour for 8 hours a day, it would take him or her 650,000 years to walk the entire circumference (compared with 2 years 11 months to complete the same task on the Earth).

Object Name:
VY Canis Majoris
Object Description:
Variable Star with Circumstellar Nebula
Position (J2000):
R.A. 07h 22m 58s.33Dec. -25° 46' 3".2
Constellation:
Canis Major
Distance:
Approximately 5,000 light-years (1.5 kiloparsecs)
Dimensions:
These images are roughly 35 arcseconds (0.85 light-years or 0.25 parsecs) across.

VY Canis Majoris Credit: NASA, ESA, and R. Humphreys (University of Minnesota)

eclipse

Credit: Mir 27 Crew; Copyright: CNES

Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth. This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000 kilometers per hour. Only observers near the center of the dark circle see a total solar eclipse - others see a partial eclipse where only part of the Sun appears blocked by the Moon. This spectacular picture of the 1999 August 11 solar eclipse was one of the last ever taken from the Mir space station. The two bright spots that appear on the upper left are possibly Jupiter and Saturn, although this has yet to be proven. Mir was deorbited in a controlled re-entry in 2001.

(from: Astronomy picture of the day)