Skip to main content

Day Meets Night in This Amazing Astronaut Photo of Earth from Space

        A photograph shared by NASA astronaut Christina Koch shows the boundary between day and night on Earth. (Image: © NASA)

#Astronaut #InternationalSpaceStation #ChristinaKoch #NASA

An evocative new photo from the International Space Station shows what it's like to fly along the line between darkness and daylight on planet Earth.

Expedition 59 astronaut Christina Koch posted the eerie view on Twitter May 20 from one of the windows of the station; the view includes a glimpse of one the orbiting complex's solar arrays. Below, night gradually gives way to daylight as clouds streak above the Earth's surface.

"A couple times a year, the @Space_Station orbit happens to align over the day/night shadow line on Earth," Koch wrote with the posted photo. "We are continuously in sunlight, never passing into Earth's shadow from the sun, and the Earth below us is always in dawn or dusk. Beautiful time to cloud watch." Koch added the hashtag #nofilter, which means the photo wasn't pretreated with any filters before posting.


While Koch was enchanted, former NASA astronaut Mike Fossum's reply showed that some astronauts prefer different views of Earth. "This was my least favorite time on orbit because our view of my favorite planet was at its worst — always distorted by low angles of light," he said. "Couldn't wait for clear days and clear nights to capture images! But enjoy your journey through the Shadowlands!"

Koch is expected to spend nearly a year in orbit, which will give her the second-longest spaceflight of any American astronaut. Also this week, Koch — a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employee — sent greetings to a NOAA conference expressing her love of looking at the planet that the agency is dedicated to studying.

"From here," Koch said of her perch in orbit, "we have an amazing view of our home planet, Earth. Looking outside the window of the ISS is a humbling and inspiring experience. It really brings into focus how important it is that we treasure this planet that we have."

Koch also paid tribute to employees in NOAA's Global Monitoring Division, which studies greenhouse gases, the carbon cycle, recovery of ozone in the stratosphere, and changes in clouds, aerosols and surface radiation. Before joining the astronaut corps, Koch worked at GMD's Baseline Observatory in Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow), Alaska and at the American Samoa Observatory, where she served as station chief. Koch said in her message she also worked "hand in hand" with GMD when she spent a winter at Amundsen‐Scott South Pole Station earlier in her career.


By Elizabeth Howell - space.com Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What is "intimacy avoidance"? (Glossary of Narcissistic Relationships)

  #Intimacy #Narcissistic Relationships #IntimacyAvoidance #Therapy, #Triple5light.com ACON Adult Children of Narcissists BAITING A narcissist loves to provoke a reaction from you, especially in public. They will provoke you into responding in an angry or emotional manner. (Your angry response is further evidence of your unbalanced state of mind). BLACK SHEEP The black sheep is blamed for just about everything that goes wrong within the dysfunctional family. They can’t do anything right. Their achievements are not recognized by the narcissistic parent and are swept under the carpet. BOUNDARIES Boundaries are a code of conduct or an unwritten set of rules which we consider to be reasonable behavior from those around us and our response when someone steps over the line. CLOSURE Closure in a normal relationship involves open and honest communication about what has gone wrong, you then wish each other well, say goodbye and move on. After a relationship with a narcissist e

How a Group of Gay Male Ballet Dancers Is Rethinking Masculinity

#Queerness #Dancers #Ballet #Masculinity #Dance #LGBTQ #Gay These men are finding new stages on which to express their #queerness, collapsing gender barriers in the world of dance. 1. The Ballerino When I was 15, I met a dancer from Canada’s  Royal Winnipeg Ballet . The company had come to  Los Angeles  to dance in the  Olympic Arts Festival , and my parents volunteered to host a post-performance dinner in our backyard. I recall about 200 people — family friends, Olympic officials and maybe 25 dancers — eating curry (is that right?) off paper plates. But that’s not what this is about. No, this is about the ballerino — my word for him — I met and what he represented to a lonely gay kid in Southern California in 1984, a kid who had never before met another gay person. Earlier that evening, I had seen the dancer turn, leap and smile onstage, expressing through the mute language of ballet who he was. Something about his movement told me he was gay, and I felt he was dancing not

Juneteenth: An important day that marks the end of slavery in the United States.

  #Juneteenth  #Hope #Empowerment #Celebration #EmancipationProclamation  #AbrahamLincoln #Holiday #BlackAmerican #AfricanAmerican  #AmericaHistory #AfricanAmericantherapist #Triple5LightTherapy  The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared freedom for enslaved people in Confederate states. However, it took over two years for the news to reach enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas. On June 19, 1865, Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and personally announced the end of slavery, effectively emancipating the remaining enslaved individuals in Texas. His arrival and announcement marked a turning point in the history of slavery in the United States. This momentous event became known as Juneteenth, a combination of 'June' and 'nineteenth.' Juneteenth is a day to remember and celebrate. It's an opportunity to honor, recognize, and celebrate the achievements and contributions of Black Americans to the n

"Love is a combination of six ingredients: care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust". Bell Hooks

#AfricanAmerican #BellHooks #Love #Respect  #WhereWeStand  #ClassMatters  "Love is a combination of six ingredients: care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust". Bell Hooks A writer, teacher and cultural critic, bell hooks is best known for her work examining systems of domination, especially racism and patriarchy, and how they may be overcome. She has published more than twenty books, including  Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black; Killing Rage: Ending Racism , and  Where We Stand: Class Matters . hooks says that uncovering and naming the forms of oppression in our society is an extension of her lifelong curiosity about love and her desire to see love manifested. “Perhaps the most common false assumption about love is that it means we will not be challenged or changed,” she once wrote in the Buddhist magazine   Shambhala Sun . “When I write provocative social and cultural criticism that causes readers to stretch their minds, to think