NASA astronaut Chris Williams captured the Milky Way rising above Earth’s atmospheric glow on April 13, 2026, while aboard a SpaceX Dragon docked to the International Space Station. This atmospheric glow is also called airglow. It occurs when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light to shed their excess energy. […]
Category: Earth
A Light in the Dark
A thin sliver of Earth’s edge is brightly illuminated against the vast darkness of space in this April 3, 2026, image taken during the Artemis II mission. Artemis II was the first crewed flight in a series of missions to test NASA’s human deep space capabilities, paving the way for future lunar surface missions. See […]
A Light in the Dark
A thin sliver of Earth’s edge is brightly illuminated against the vast darkness of space in this April 3, 2026, image taken during the Artemis II mission. Artemis II was the first crewed flight in a series of missions to test NASA’s human deep space capabilities, paving the way for future lunar surface missions. See […]
A Light in the Dark
A thin sliver of Earth’s edge is brightly illuminated against the vast darkness of space in this April 3, 2026, image taken during the Artemis II mission. Artemis II was the first crewed flight in a series of missions to test NASA’s human deep space capabilities, paving the way for future lunar surface missions. See […]
US-Indian Space Mission Maps Extreme Subsidence in Mexico City
One of the most powerful radar systems ever launched into space has mapped the ground moving beneath one of fastest subsiding capitals in the world: Mexico City. The findings show how quickly and reliably the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite can track real-time changes across Earth’s surface from orbit, unhindered by clouds or vegetation […]
Nighttime Imaging Grows Landsat’s Science Value
By Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center For more than 50 years, Landsat has imaged Earth’s land and near-shore surfaces as the satellites descend in midmorning orbit, when daily sunlight is optimal. That’s just what they’ve always done. Currently, Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 circle the globe while also making better use of their ascending paths, […]
Nighttime Imaging Grows Landsat’s Science Value
By Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center For more than 50 years, Landsat has imaged Earth’s land and near-shore surfaces as the satellites descend in midmorning orbit, when daily sunlight is optimal. That’s just what they’ve always done. Currently, Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 circle the globe while also making better use of their ascending paths, […]
NASA’s 777 Aircraft Returns Home with Science Flights on the Horizon
NASA’s Boeing 777 has returned to the agency’s fleet after undergoing heavy structural modifications as it transforms from a giant passenger plane into the agency’s next-generation airborne science laboratory. After a check flight and a three-hour transit from Waco, the aircraft returned to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on April 22. Since January […]
Night and (Earth) Day
This image, released in celebration of Earth Day, shows the terminator – the line between night and day – on Earth. The Artemis II astronauts captured this view on April 2, 2026, during their journey to the Moon. NASA science improves life on Earth every day. The agency provides insights on our home planet that […]