Astronaut Photography

Meandering Mississippi River
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Meandering Mississippi River

The wandering river is a boon to farming, but it has no interest in state borders.

Published Jul 19, 2020

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Lake Rukwa, Tanzania
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Lake Rukwa, Tanzania

One of the smaller lakes of the East African Rift is rich with mud, fish, and geologic beauty.

Published Jul 12, 2020

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Pacific Northwest Bathed in Green and White
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Pacific Northwest Bathed in Green and White

The Olympic Peninsula, Cascade Mountains, and Salish Sea caught the eye of an astronaut on the space station.

Published Jul 4, 2020

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Ankara at Night
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Ankara at Night

Bright shades of white and yellow light up the geographic and political heart of Turkey.

Published Jun 28, 2020

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An Astronaut’s View of an Annular Eclipse
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An Astronaut’s View of an Annular Eclipse

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station shot a photograph of the Moon’s shadow crossing the Earth on June 21, 2020.

Published Jun 23, 2020

Atmosphere Unique Imagery

Mogadishu, Somalia
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Mogadishu, Somalia

An array of sandy colors paint the landscape around the capital and port city.

Published Jun 21, 2020

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Mediterranean Sunglint
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Mediterranean Sunglint

The play of sunlight on water gives definition to the jagged coastlines of Sardinia and Corsica.

Published Jun 14, 2020

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A Pair of Niles and Deltas
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A Pair of Niles and Deltas

Two inland deltas spring from the landscape near the confluence of the Blue and White Niles.

Published Jun 10, 2020

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Astronauts Launch from American Soil
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Astronauts Launch from American Soil

A commercially built and operated American crew spacecraft has safely delivered two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.

Published Jun 2, 2020

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Lake Skadar, Montenegro and Albania
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Lake Skadar, Montenegro and Albania

The largest lake on the Balkan Peninsula is colored by sediments eroded from the surrounding highlands.

Published May 31, 2020

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Budapest at Night
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Budapest at Night

Divided by the Danube River, the city is actually a unification of three different older communities.

Published May 24, 2020

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Popcorn Clouds over Rio de Janeiro
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Popcorn Clouds over Rio de Janeiro

Clouds formed over rural areas and the cities but are noticeably absent above Guanabara Bay and the ocean due to the mechanisms of cloud formation.

Published May 17, 2020

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Patagonian Dust Streamers
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Patagonian Dust Streamers

Dust storms are common in the region, and sometimes bear resemblance to weather events on Mars.

Published May 10, 2020

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Wide-Eyed Over Mexico
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Wide-Eyed Over Mexico

An ISS astronaut using a short camera lens captured almost all of Mexico in one shot.

Published May 3, 2020

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Tournament Earth - Best of EO
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Tournament Earth - Best of EO

After five rounds and 56,000 votes, the readers have chosen their favorite. We have a Tournament Earth 2020 champion.

Published Apr 28, 2020

Human Presence Remote Sensing

Great Lakes Without Winter Ice
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Great Lakes Without Winter Ice

From late February to early March in most years, the winter cold freezes much of the surface area of the lakes. But not so much in 2020.

Published Apr 24, 2020

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Rolling Through the Appalachians
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Rolling Through the Appalachians

The Susquehanna River cuts through the folds of the Valley-and-Ridge province of the mountain chain.

Published Apr 12, 2020

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Ni’ihau
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Ni’ihau

Despite sporadic rainfall, the island is the occasional home of two of the larger bodies of water in Hawaii.

Published Apr 5, 2020

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Sunlit Peaks in the Himalayas
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Sunlit Peaks in the Himalayas

Earth’s third-highest summit, Kangchenjunga, rises more than 8500 meters above sea level along the border of Nepal and India.

Published Mar 29, 2020

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Choose Your Champion: Tournament Earth 2020
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Choose Your Champion: Tournament Earth 2020

Vote for your favorite all-time Earth Observatory image. Help narrow the field from 32 nominees down to one champion in a five-round tournament.

Published Mar 26, 2020

Atmosphere Land Life Water Snow and Ice Remote Sensing Videos

Waving at the Kerguelen Islands
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Waving at the Kerguelen Islands

They are geographically isolated but scientifically and visually compelling.

Published Mar 22, 2020

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Jebel Marra, Sudan
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Jebel Marra, Sudan

The almost circular massif in the Darfur region is a large cluster of volcanoes and lava flows, with a few traces of human activity.

Published Mar 15, 2020

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Shelter Cove
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Shelter Cove

The remote hamlet sits along California’s rugged “Lost Coast.”

Published Mar 8, 2020

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Rocas Atoll
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Rocas Atoll

The only atoll in the South Atlantic Ocean is part of Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha archipelago.

Published Feb 29, 2020

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Reservoirs, Bends, and Canyons on the Colorado Plateau
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Reservoirs, Bends, and Canyons on the Colorado Plateau

Ancient geologic features and modern creations share the spotlight in this photo of southeastern Utah and northern Arizona taken from the ISS.

Published Feb 23, 2020

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Nevado Sajama and Parinacota
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Nevado Sajama and Parinacota

This photograph highlights several snow- and ice-capped volcanoes as they cast early morning shadows over a mountainous region of Bolivia and Chile.

Published Feb 16, 2020

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Maiella Massif, Italy
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Maiella Massif, Italy

Complicated tectonics elevated the high plateau from rock layers that were originally deposited millions of years ago at the bottom of the sea.

Published Feb 9, 2020

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Coast of Peru
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Coast of Peru

Natural wonders of Peru stand out in this wide-angle photograph.

Published Feb 2, 2020

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Beysehir and Egirdir
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Beysehir and Egirdir

Two of the largest freshwater lakes in Turkey sit on the Anatolia Plateau.

Published Jan 26, 2020

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Watching Meteors from Space
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Watching Meteors from Space

Astronaut Christina Koch snapped a picture of the Quadrantids in January 2020.

Published Jan 20, 2020

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