Astronaut Photography

Artificial Archipelagos, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Artificial Archipelagos, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Taken January 13, 2010, this astronaut photograph shows two artificial archipelagos along the Dubai coast: Palm Jumeirah and The World. The image also shows the 800-meter-tall Bhurj Khalifa high rise building.

Published Feb 1, 2010

Image of the Day Land Water Human Presence

Tsauchab River and Sossus Vlei Lakebed, Namibia
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Tsauchab River and Sossus Vlei Lakebed, Namibia

A pale, dry riverbed cuts through the red dunes of the Namib Sand Sea.

Published Jan 25, 2010

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Greater Bridgetown Area, Barbados
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Greater Bridgetown Area, Barbados

Taken December 16, 2009, this astronaut photograph shows the greater metropolitan area of Bridgetown, Barbados. Gray-and-white urban areas along the coast contrast with green vegetation inland.

Published Jan 18, 2010

Image of the Day Land Human Presence

Evaporation Ponds, Salar de Atacama, Chile
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Evaporation Ponds, Salar de Atacama, Chile

This astronaut photo from December 15, 2009, shows evaporation ponds in the Atacama Desert, where brines are evaporated to concentrate lithium salts.

Published Jan 4, 2010

Image of the Day Land Human Presence

Mangroves, Dunes, and Desert on Baja California
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Mangroves, Dunes, and Desert on Baja California

Pale fields of sand dunes are interspersed with deep green, mangrove-lined streams on the southern Baja Peninsula.

Published Jan 1, 2010

Image of the Day Land Life Water

Sand Dunes in the Tenere Desert, Niger
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Sand Dunes in the Tenere Desert, Niger

Layers of dunes march across a sand sea in the east-central Tenéré Desert of Niger in this astronaut photo from December 1, 2009.

Published Dec 28, 2009

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Cloud Formations and Sunglint, Italy
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Cloud Formations and Sunglint, Italy

An extreme sideways viewing angle and the mirror-like reflection of sunlight off water creates a dramatic astronaut photo of clouds over Italy’s Calabrian Peninsula.

Published Dec 21, 2009

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water

Lake Ilopango, El Salvador
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Lake Ilopango, El Salvador

This astronaut photo shows the blue-green waters of Lake Ilopango, which fills the caldera of a volcano in El Salvador that last erupted in 1879.

Published Dec 14, 2009

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Savage Islands, Atlantic Ocean
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Savage Islands, Atlantic Ocean

Bright white waves break along the fringing beaches of the Savage Islands in these astronaut photos from October 22, 2009.

Published Nov 23, 2009

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Thunderstorms on the Brazilian Horizon
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Thunderstorms on the Brazilian Horizon

Thunderstorms and other interesting clouds are captured in this astronaut photo over the Amazon Basin on October 6, 2009.

Published Nov 9, 2009

Image of the Day Atmosphere

El Misti Volcano and Arequipa, Peru
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El Misti Volcano and Arequipa, Peru

This astronaut photograph from October 16, 2009, shows Arequipa—Peru’ “White City”on the flanks of the towering El Misti Volcano.

Published Nov 2, 2009

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Ash and Steam Plume, Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat
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Ash and Steam Plume, Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat

An oblique photo of Montserrat Island taken by astronauts captures an eruption from the island’s Soufrière Hills Volcano on October 11, 2009.

Published Oct 19, 2009

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Volcanoes Human Presence

Oblique View of the Arnica Fire, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
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Oblique View of the Arnica Fire, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

The smoke plume from the Arnica Fire is reflected in Yellowstone Lake in this astronaut photo from September 24, 2009.

Published Oct 12, 2009

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Fires

Glacier Outlet, Southern Patagonian Ice Field, Chile
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Glacier Outlet, Southern Patagonian Ice Field, Chile

This astronaut photograph shows the merged outlet of two glaciers within the deep fjords of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

Published Oct 5, 2009

Image of the Day Land Water Snow and Ice

City of Dubai at Night, United Arab Emirates
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City of Dubai at Night, United Arab Emirates

This nighttime astronaut photo shows the city lights of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on September 11, 2009.

Published Sep 28, 2009

Image of the Day Human Presence

Lago Erepecu and Rio Trombetas, Brazil
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Lago Erepecu and Rio Trombetas, Brazil

In this astronaut photo, the mirror-like reflection of sunlight off water makes the Trombetas River and Lake Erepecu in the Brazilian Amazon stand out from the deep green forest.

Published Sep 21, 2009

Image of the Day Land

Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee), Northern Israel
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Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee), Northern Israel

This astronaut photo of Israel’s Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) shows an irregular patchwork of green and brown fields surrounding the lake. The Jordan River is visible flowing in at the northern end of the lake and out at the southern end.

Published Sep 14, 2009

Image of the Day Land Human Presence

Black Point Lava Flow, Arizona
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Black Point Lava Flow, Arizona

The otherworldly footprint of black basaltic lava creates a striking landscape at Black Point Lava Flow in northern Arizona, seen in this photograph taken from the International Space Station.

Published Sep 7, 2009

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Sevastopol, Ukraine
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Sevastopol, Ukraine

The urban landscape of Sevastopol, on the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea, is featured in this astronaut photo from August 5, 2009.

Published Aug 24, 2009

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Mount Hood, Oregon
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Mount Hood, Oregon

In the astronaut photo from August 5, 2009, bright white glaciers cap the summit of Oregon’s Mount Hood, while gray volcanic deposits line the rivers that drain the mountain, and green forests cover the lower slopes.

Published Aug 17, 2009

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Apollo 11 Landing Site
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Apollo 11 Landing Site

Forty years after the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of the descent stage of the Eagle lunar module.

Published Jul 20, 2009

Image of the Day Human Presence

Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands
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Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands

A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station in 2009 offered the astronauts a striking view of the volcano in an early stage of eruption.

Published Jun 22, 2009

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Volcanoes

Earth Viewed by Apollo 8
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Earth Viewed by Apollo 8

This stunning photo came back to Earth with the Apollo 8 astronauts in late December 1968.

Published Nov 27, 2008

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water

Coronado Island and the Gulf of California, Mexico
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Coronado Island and the Gulf of California, Mexico

Located in the Bahia de los Angeles, Isla Coronado sits in the Gulf of California, just off the eastern shoreline of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. The island is approximately 7 kilometers long, and it is dominated by Volcan Coronado on the northern end.

Published Oct 20, 2008

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Sandy Cape, Fraser Island, Australia
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Sandy Cape, Fraser Island, Australia

Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island, is located along the coastline of Queensland, Australia, and it includes Great Sandy National Park. The island was designated a World Heritage site in 1992, in part due to its outstanding preservation of geological processes related to sand dune formation.

Published Oct 13, 2008

Image of the Day Land Water

Bouvet Island, South Atlantic Ocean
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Bouvet Island, South Atlantic Ocean

Bouvet Island is known as the most remote island in the world; Antarctica, over 1600 kilometers (994 miles) to the south, is the nearest land mass. Located near the junction between the South American, African, and Antarctic tectonic plates, the island is mostly formed from a shield volcano—a broad, gently sloping cone formed by thin, fluid lavas—that is almost entirely covered by glaciers.

Published Oct 6, 2008

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Tunis, Tunisia
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Tunis, Tunisia

The urban area of Tunis is located on a flat coastal plain, and is distinguished in this astronaut photograph from the surrounding desert by the pattern of grey and tan buildings and the dark street grid. The city is bordered by an evaporating saline lake to the northeast known as Sebkhet Arina (upper left).

Published Sep 22, 2008

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Island of Ischia, Italy
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Island of Ischia, Italy

he island of Ischia is approximately 30 kilometers southwest of Naples, Italy, in the western Bay of Naples (part of the Tyrrenhian Sea). While the island’s rocks are volcanic in origin, much of the island’s geology and current topography is characterized by blocks of uplifted rock and sunken areas between weak spots or cracks in Earth’s crust.

Published Sep 15, 2008

Image of the Day Land Water

Sunglint on the Amazon River, Brazil
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Sunglint on the Amazon River, Brazil

The setting sun glints off the Amazon River and numerous lakes in its floodplain in this astronaut photograph from August 19, 2008. Large areas of sunglint are common in oblique views. Sunglint images reveal great detail in surface water—in this case the marked difference between the smooth outline of the Amazon and the jagged shoreline of the Uatumã River.

Published Sep 8, 2008

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Aeolian Islands
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Aeolian Islands

The Aeolian Islands formed from a chain of volcanoes in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of the island of Sicily. Geologists and volcanologists have studied the islands since the eighteenth century, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared them a World Heritage Site in 2000 because of their value to the study of volcanic processes.

Published Sep 1, 2008

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