Stunning NASA and ISS Photo of the Day: Beauty Overload -- So Take a Deep Breath Before Viewing!

ChamorroBible.org ^ | July 21, 2003 | NASA, International Space Station (Expedition 7)

[EnjoyingLife]

Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from the International Space Station (Expedition 7) on 21 July 2003. Above photo via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200702.htm (photo 49), see photos 47 and 48 too.

Image link, 1502 x 1002 pixels: http://ChamorroBible.org/images/photos/gpw-200702-49-NASA-ISS007-E-10807-space-sunset-20030721-Pacific-Ocean-medium.jpg

[EnjoyingLife]

Hat tip: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=2888055

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

My German son is flying home today to rejoin his German family. He plans on waking up early during the 12 hour flight to take pictures as the sun comes up.

[true_blue_texican]

WOW!

[EnjoyingLife]

Click on the photo.

[zeugma]

That would be even better without the camera artifacts.

[bws53]

Looks like a big dose of Global Clouding OMG WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE BUT THANK GOD BECAUSE I KNOW ALGORE CAN SAVE US!!!!!!!!!

[Recovering Hermit]

Got Photoshop?

[Carl LaFong]

What a stupid , crappy photo....just kidding...going to use it as my desktop.

[tet68]

What is that tube in the upper right?
Booster?

[ml/nj]

Impressive thunderstorm, top left-center!

ML/NJ

[NordP]

Pinging myself to always have reference to this BEAUTIFUL photo...magnificent!!!

[Socratic]

Oh man, that anvil cloud in the center really gives an indication of Earth’s atmosphere.

[Popman]

I'm sorry, that's not earth.

Earth according to the enviromental moonbats is a dark polluted sphere of human virus

[Drango]

That would be even better without the camera artifacts

Perhaps, but the artifacts give it a "real" quality that in a paradoxical way... enhance the photo. IMHO

[bill1952]

LOL! Sun streak.

[EnjoyingLife]

You should see the original photograph. Go to the photo credit for photo 49 at http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200702.htm and click on "Original". This is the link you'll find there:

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/LargeImageAccess.pl?directory=EFS/highres/ISS007&filename=ISS007-E-10807.JPG&filesize=2165210

After waiting a few minutes you can download the file from NASA's server. Now, compare the original with the posted photo. Yep, NASA used their image processing magic on that original image and cleaned things up a bit.

[Recall Em All]

Very beautiful indeed!

[Bladerunnuh]

now if we could just do something about the Mexicans... kidding..kidding _{sort of}

[gracesdad]

You know what would be really cool. If we could have a thread with a neat photo like this and no idiotic, off-topic comments like yours.

[RightWhale]

That is a really stupid comment. The population growth of such stupid comments in why I don’t bother to post science threads anymore.

[firewalk]

Thanks for posting this

[healy61]

Please don’t let an stupid posting ruin your fine abilities. This is an appreciated posting. There are so many making dumb comments, it is a chore to wade through for pertinent comments. Not only here, but all over FR.

[RightWhale]

Well, that is only one factor and a minor one at that. This image shows many things and could make a fine wall hanging, but as Proust noted, indirectly, photographs aren’t art and realistic art isn’t realistic or art. Still, there is plenty of science to explain in this image, much of it hidden. There are several of the anvil thunderheads as mentioned above. They go nearly to the top of the atmosphere where anything could fly on wings. It might be interesting to compare these equatorial thunderheads to thunderheads in the arctic. Arctic thunderheads are only half as high; intercontinental airplanes in the arctic fly only half as high. Why is that?

[BigCinBigD]

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

[SomeSay]

MAGNIFICENT!

Author ... Author ... !!!

[ApplegateRanch]

In the foreground, ‘under’ the huge thunderhead, and to the left of the lens flare, thee’s a faily large ‘whispy’ that seems much brighter than the clouds around it. Does that qualify it as a noctilucent; or is it not that high?

[RightWhale]

Does that qualify it as a noctilucent; or is it not that high?

Not an expert in clouds, but it might be a cirrus. Noctilucent clouds as portrayed in images in Sky & Telescope are usually like ripples on a pond. Still very high, probably just as high as the anvil top.

[bill1952]

Why is that?

Seriously? - The Tropopause.

[RightWhale]

What does that mean? For extra credit: explain the word tropopause.

[No Blue States]

BTTT

[SuziQ]

I’m well and truly stuned! That is gorgeous!

[Yardstick]

Clearly a hoax. Where are the stars?

/conspiracy theory

[bill1952]

Oh dear. Long subject & I don’t know if you are pulling my chain or not, but hey.

I’m a pilot and an instructor so I deal with WX on a regular bsis.

The tropopause is a boundary layer between the lower atmospehere (troposhere) and the upper atmoshere (stratosphere) where the air ceases to cool as you gain altitude, ie, the lapse rate ceases to be consistant.

here in florida it is close to 10 miles up and at the poles its about 4 miles up. cool air condenses and sinks, hot air rises, heance the Tropopause is higher at the equator than at the poles.

Harder to fly where there is no air...

[ApplegateRanch]

You might be thinking of nacreous. These are what I meant.

noctilucent gallery at Space Weather

[EternalVigilance]

Great post, and an awesome picture! Thank you!

[RightWhale]

Thanks and good explanation. There’s nothing like seeing the effect from orbit.

[GraniteStateConservative]

very cool.

[RightWhale]

That is kind of wavy, which is how I imagine noctilucent clouds. Nacreous would have those pearlescent or opalescent colors, wouldn’t it? We see that all the time there are light clouds around the sun. They have bands of light green and light purple, especially bright near the sun but visible quite a distance away. This is in addition to sun dogs, which we also have nearly every day.

[fish hawk]

Black sky, no stars???

[bajabaja]

Thanks.

[Lurker]

For my weather geek friend later.

L

[Nuc1]

Please don’t stop you do a great job. Everybody has bad days and/or (usually and) say silly things at times. Like others I have set the zoomed version as my desktop. Don’t doubt it really is appreciated. :D)

[gathersnomoss]

Was this taken during the lunar landing? Foil on head.

[plsvn]

Black sky, no stars???

That's right. Camera lens had to be stopped down because of the bright sun and bright earth plus exposure length was short for the same reason. You need wide open lenses and long exposure times to capture the comparatively faint stars (even the brightest ones).

[RightWhale]

Stopped in ‘04. Anyway, my favorite source, who spent a lot of his time rooting around for these thought-provoking science articles died suddenly and has not been replaced.

[ApplegateRanch]

Yes, they’re pearlescent; and they’re in wave form; and they’re high stratospheric, rather than tropspheric.

Normal pearlescent or iridescent are much lower & more common.

Try these photo pages, and see some spectacular nacreous & a good explaination.

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/nacr1.htm

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/psc1.htm

[ngc6656]

Please don’t stop you do a great job.

Here's a second to that. I most always learn something new on threads in which RightWhale is posting -- such as this thread's "nacreous clouds" that prompted an Internet search and the discovery of some beautiful photos of such clouds.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

I’ve been looking for a new wallpaper.

Thanks. =-)

[shove_it]

Try to avoid flying through those purty anvil top thingies. They’ll ruin your day.

[Liberty Valance]

Beautiful.