City lights sprawl across Earth’s surface below a constant glow in the upper atmosphere.
Published Oct 23, 2018
From a vantage point about 360 km (225 miles) over the Earth, Space Station crewmembers photographed the crescent moon through the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere. At the bottom of the image, a closed deck of clouds is probably at about 6 km (3 miles). The shades of blue grading to black are caused by the scatter of light as it strikes gas molecules of the very low density upper atmosphere.
Published Feb 23, 2004
Satellites are shedding new light on the invisible processes and rhythms at play at the intersection between Earth and space.
Published Dec 26, 2019
At the boundary between Earth and space, particles and gases and energy do an intricate and colorful dance that varies daily.
Published Jan 7, 2020
A geomagnetic storm in early October lit up the skies with northern lights that were detected by an Earth-observing satellite.
Published Oct 10, 2012
Sounding rockets probe the way auroras and solar activity affect the atmosphere.
Published Feb 3, 2015
Photographers captured these digital photos of a four-stage Black Brant XII sounding rocket and the aurora borealis on December 12, 2010, during the NASA-funded Rocket Experiment for Neutral Upwelling (RENU).
Published Jan 4, 2011
Solar storms smacked into Earth’s magnetic field and provoked auroras over the southern and northern hemisphere just after the summer solstice.
Published Jun 28, 2015
Over 20 years, more than 550 small asteroids streaked across our skies.
Published Nov 21, 2014
The limb of the Earth is a work of awesome beauty and a gift to science.
Published Nov 26, 2011
An astronaut caught a glimpse of the aurora australis while looking out across the Indian Ocean.
Published Jul 2, 2017
A pair of sounding rockets took aim at the aurora over Svalbard, Norway, to help scientists understand how Earth loses oxygen into space.
Published Dec 17, 2018
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station adjusted the camera for night imaging and captured the green veils and curtains of an aurora that spanned thousands of kilometers over Canada.
Published Aug 8, 2016
The colors and altitude are often the same, but the atmospheric processes are different.
Published Aug 16, 2020
With sixteen sunrises and sunsets, astronauts have a lot of chances to see our nearest solar system neighbor.
Published Jun 23, 2019
The diffuse orange and green bands of light are caused by molecules in the atmosphere that have been energized by absorbing ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.
Published Oct 8, 2020
Some of the most breathtaking views of Earth taken from space are those that capture our planet’s limb.
Published Apr 2, 2003
Twenty years ago this month, astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery used the spacecraft's robotic arm to launch the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite into orbit around the Earth.
Published Sep 24, 2011
Space Shuttle Atlantis streaked across the sky to its final landing at Kennedy Space Center.
Published Jul 28, 2011
Researchers probed the auroral wind by shooting instruments into them in February 2013.
Published Feb 9, 2013
A camera onboard the International Space Station delivers the space-based view of meteors burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Published Aug 13, 2016
Astronauts aboard the ISS see sixteen sunrises and sunsets per day.
Published Jun 14, 2010
For the first time, scientists will be able to monitor the daily and hourly weather of the uppermost parts of the atmosphere.
Published Mar 18, 2018
A sinuous green aurora appears above a deck of clouds in this dramatic astronaut photograph from May 29, 2010.
Published Jun 21, 2010
