Images related to Elusive Sprite Captured from the International Space Station

Sensing Lightning from the Space Station
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Sensing Lightning from the Space Station

Bolts light up Earth’s atmosphere 4 million times a day. Scientists hope to observe a few.

Published Mar 23, 2014

Image of the Day Atmosphere Remote Sensing

Earth Awash in Lights of the Night
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Earth Awash in Lights of the Night

City lights sprawl across Earth’s surface below a constant glow in the upper atmosphere.

Published Oct 23, 2018

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Red Aurora as Seen from the Space Station
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Red Aurora as Seen from the Space Station

Red colors of the aurora are dominant in this image captured by a digital still camera in September 2001. Auroras are caused when high-energy electrons pour down from the Earth’s magnetosphere and collide with atoms. Red aurora occurs from 200 km to as high as 500 km altitude and is caused by the emission of 6300 Angstrom wavelength light from oxygen atoms.

Published Dec 2, 2001

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Sun Rising on the Final Shuttle Mission
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Sun Rising on the Final Shuttle Mission

Astronauts supplied the International Space Station with a new logistics module; tested tools, technologies, and techniques to refuel satellites in space; and collected old equipment.

Published Jul 21, 2011

Image of the Day Human Presence Remote Sensing

Hovering on the Horizon
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Hovering on the Horizon

The limb of the Earth is a work of awesome beauty and a gift to science.

Published Nov 26, 2011

Image of the Day Atmosphere Remote Sensing

Toward Mapping the Atmosphere’s Escape from Earth
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Toward Mapping the Atmosphere’s Escape from Earth

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

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Return to Flight
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Return to Flight

Published Jul 27, 2005

Image of the Day Land Life

Red Sprites Above the U.S. and Central America
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Red Sprites Above the U.S. and Central America

Within three minutes, astronauts acquired two photographs of elusive red sprite emissions above thunderstorms.

Published Aug 24, 2015

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Final Hook-Up
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Final Hook-Up

Space Shuttle Atlantis approaches the International Space Station for docking for the last time on July 10, 2011.

Published Jul 15, 2011

Image of the Day Atmosphere Water Human Presence

Photographs of Auroras from Space
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Photographs of Auroras from Space

If Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, had a sister she would be the goddess of Aurora. Glowing green ripples form arcs that constantly transform their shape into new glowing diaphanous forms. There is nothing static about auroras. They are always moving, always changing, and like snowflakes, each display is different from the last.

Published Jan 5, 2004

Image of the Day Atmosphere Heat

A Space-Based View of Meteor Showers
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A Space-Based View of Meteor Showers

A camera onboard the International Space Station delivers the space-based view of meteors burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Published Aug 13, 2016

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Comet Atlantis
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Comet Atlantis

Space Shuttle Atlantis streaked across the sky to its final landing at Kennedy Space Center.

Published Jul 28, 2011

Image of the Day Human Presence

Atlantis Rides Into History
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Atlantis Rides Into History

In July 2011, the Space Shuttle Atlantis lit its rockets and roared into space for the 135th and last flight of the U.S. space transportation system.

Published Jul 9, 2011

Image of the Day Human Presence Remote Sensing

Classroom in Space
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Classroom in Space

The above photo of the International Space Station was taken by an astronaut aboard the space shuttle on April 17, 2002. Although its construction is not yet complete, Space Station Alpha began operations in November 2000. It now serves as home to three astronauts as well as dozens of already ongoing science experiments.

Published Jan 25, 2003

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Astronauts’ New Window on the World
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Astronauts’ New Window on the World

Primarily designed to give astronauts a way to see the outside of the ISS, it also provides stunning panoramic views of Earth and space.

Published Feb 20, 2010

Image of the Day Remote Sensing