NASA picture of the day

[tittenman]

NASA Earthsat Archive

I am kicking off a NASA Earthsat pictures thread and will try to post at least one picture each day. Some of you may be familiar with the archive for the rest of you enjoy.

Pyramids of Dashur, Egypt

While the pyramids of Giza are perhaps the most famous, there are several other ancient Egyptian royal necropolis (“city of the dead”) sites situated along the Nile River and its delta. One of these sites is near the village of Dashur, illustrated in this astronaut photograph. The gray-brown built area of Dashur is surrounded by green agricultural land of the Nile Delta, which forms a distinct boundary with the tan desert to the west. It is in the desert that the monuments of the ancient rulers of Egypt are found.

Several monuments are visible in this image, including the large Red and Bent Pyramids built by Snofru, first king of the Fourth Dynasty, which lasted from 2575–2465 BC. Other visible monuments include the pyramid complexes of Amenemhat III and Sesostris III, both kings of the Twelfth Dynasty (1991–1783 BC). Both of these complexes are poorly preserved, due to both the unstable ground conditions and the dismantling of the limestone blocks forming the outer pyramid casings during later historical periods.

The Bent Pyramid (image upper right) is so called because the slope of the outer face was lessened halfway through construction, leading to a distinctive “bent” profile. Scholars have offered different explanations for why this was done: perhaps to decrease the mass of the pyramid to prevent its collapse or to reduce the work necessary to complete it. The Red Pyramid to the north (image center) was built after the Bent Pyramid, and is named for the coloration of the building stone at the structure’s core. Compare the shadows of the Red and Bent pyramids in the image to see the different profiles of the structures (easier to see in the large image.) An irregular, dark feature to the southeast of the Bent Pyramid is not a shadow cast by a monument; it is an irrigation area extending into the desert.

 

[tittenman]

Mount Fuji, Japan

The 3,776 meter high Mount Fuji volcano, located on the island of Honshu in Japan, is one of the world’s classic examples of a stratovolcano. The volcano’s steep, conical profile is the result of numerous interlayered lava flows and explosive eruption products – such as ash, cinders, and volcanic bombs – building up the volcano over time. The steep profile is possible because of the relatively high viscosity of the volcanic rocks typically associated with stratovolcanoes. This leads to thick sequences of lava flows near the eruptive vent that build the cone structure, rather than low viscosity flows that spread out over the landscape and build lower-profile shield volcanoes.

Mount Fuji, or Fuji-san in Japan, is actually comprised of several overlapping volcanoes that began erupting in the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million to approximately 10,000 years ago). The currently active volcano, known as Younger Fuji, began forming approximately 11,000 to 8,000 years ago. The most recent explosive activity occurred in 1707, creating Hoei Crater on the southeastern flank of the volcano (image center). This eruption deposited ash on Edo (present-day Tokyo) located 95 km to the northeast. While there have been no further eruptions of Mount Fuji, steam was observed at the summit during 1780 – 1820, and the volcano is considered active.

Click thumbnail below for full size image

 

[Skyraider22]

^ That is wicked:thumbsup:

 

[Shadowfax 10]

Nice pictures, I want to see NASA take a photo of England.

 

[tittenman]

Nice pictures, I want to see NASA take a photo of England.

Thanks.Yes there are definitely some of England (our green and pleasant land), I will definitely post some when I find some good ones, but feel free to post one yourself if you find one.

 

[rwill25]

Mount Fuji, Japan

Click thumbnail below for full size image

The earth has one nasty zit.

 

[tittenman]

Atafu Atoll, Tokelau, Southern Pacific Ocean

At roughly eight kilometers wide, Atafu Atoll is the smallest of three atolls and one island (Nukunonu and Fakaofo Atolls to the southeast and Swains Island to the south are not shown) comprising the Tokelau Islands group located in the southern Pacific Ocean. The political entity of Tokelau is currently a territory of New Zealand. In recent years, public referendums on independence within the islands have been held, but have not received sufficient support to move forward.

The primary settlement on Atafu is a village located at the northwestern corner of the atoll—indicated by an area of light gray dots in this astronaut photograph. The typical ring shape of the atoll is the result of coral reefs building up around a former volcanic island. Over geologic time, the central volcano has subsided beneath the water surface, leaving the fringing reefs and a central lagoon that contains submerged coral reefs. Erosion and soil development on the surfaces of the exposed fringing reefs have formed tan to light-brown beach deposits (southern and western sides of the atoll) and allowed vegetation to take root (northern and eastern sides of the atoll).

The Tokelau Islands, including Atafu Atoll, suffered significant inundation and erosion during Tropical Cyclone Percy in 2005. The approximate elevation of Atafu Atoll is only two meters above the tidal high-water level. Vulnerability to tropical cyclones and potential sea level rise make the long-term habitability of the atoll uncertain.

Click thumbnail below for full size image

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

I thought this was going to be full of space and nebulas and green women.

Shucks.

 

[tittenman]

I thought this was going to be full of space and nebulas and green women.

Shucks.

Nebulas I may well post!
Green women I am sure somebody else has already done, so wouldnt want to steal someone elses thunder.

 

[StanScratch]

Extremely cool pictures. Neat to see these things from angles we normally do not have a Chance to see them.

 

[shaggydude]

http://www.toplessrobot.com/yvonne_craig_as_slave_girl_marta.jpg

 

[lurkingdirk]

^^:rofl2:

 

[tittenman]

Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah

The Bingham Canyon Mine (image center) is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, measuring over 4 kilometers wide and 1,200 meters deep. Located about 30 kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, the mine exploits a porphyry copper deposit, a geological structure formed by crystal-rich magma moving upwards through pre-existing rock layers. As the magma cools and crystallizes, it forms an igneous rock with large crystals embedded in a fine-grained matrix, known as a porphyry. Hot fluids circulate through the magma and surrounding rocks via fractures, depositing copper-bearing and other minerals in spatial patterns that a geologist recognizes as a potential porphyry copper deposit.

Mining first began in Bingham Canyon in the late nineteenth century, when shafts were sunk to remove gold, silver, and lead deposits that played out by the early 1900s. It would take the advent of open-pit mining in 1899 to turn the Bingham copper deposit into an economically favorable resource. In open-pit mining, the copper-containing rocks are excavated from the surface downward in terraces. By the 1930s, open-pit mining had turned “the Hill” at Bingham Canyon into “the Pit.”

This astronaut photograph of the Bingham Canyon Mine shows parallel benches (stepped terraces) along the western pit face. These benches range from 16 to 25 meters high, and they provide access for equipment to work the rock face and maintaining the stability of the sloping pit walls. A dark, larger roadway is also visible directly below the benches. Brown to gray, flat-topped hills of gangue (waste rock) surround the pit, and are thrown into sharp relief by shadows and the oblique (from the side) viewing angle of the photograph. Reservoirs for leach water (associated with ore processing) are visible to the south of the city of Bingham Canyon.

Today’s copper market is booming thanks to global demands from construction, telecommunications, and electronics sectors of the economy. The Kennecott Utah Copper Company removes about half a million tons of material from the Bingham Canyon Mine every day for processing. In 1906, the rate of removal was 100,000 tons of material per month. Over 17 million tons of copper have been removed to date. Geological and engineering models suggest that the mine can be deepened by an additional 200 meters before extraction costs become greater than the value of the remaining copper.

The geological and chemical processes that produce copper deposits also produce minerals such as iron sulfides, which react with water or oxygen on the surface to produce colourful minerals. Geologists can sometimes use satellite observations to identify places where the topography and the rock types on the surface suggest copper ores might be present below ground. Read the feature story Prospecting from Orbit for more information.

Click thumbnail below for full size image

 

[tittenman]

Pearl Harbour, Hawaii

 

[Skyraider22]

Atafu Atoll, Tokelau, Southern Pacific Ocean

At roughly eight kilometers wide, Atafu Atoll is the smallest of three atolls and one island (Nukunonu and Fakaofo Atolls to the southeast and Swains Island to the south are not shown) comprising the Tokelau Islands group located in the southern Pacific Ocean. The political entity of Tokelau is currently a territory of New Zealand. In recent years, public referendums on independence within the islands have been held, but have not received sufficient support to move forward.

The primary settlement on Atafu is a village located at the northwestern corner of the atoll—indicated by an area of light gray dots in this astronaut photograph. The typical ring shape of the atoll is the result of coral reefs building up around a former volcanic island. Over geologic time, the central volcano has subsided beneath the water surface, leaving the fringing reefs and a central lagoon that contains submerged coral reefs. Erosion and soil development on the surfaces of the exposed fringing reefs have formed tan to light-brown beach deposits (southern and western sides of the atoll) and allowed vegetation to take root (northern and eastern sides of the atoll).

The Tokelau Islands, including Atafu Atoll, suffered significant inundation and erosion during Tropical Cyclone Percy in 2005. The approximate elevation of Atafu Atoll is only two meters above the tidal high-water level. Vulnerability to tropical cyclones and potential sea level rise make the long-term habitability of the atoll uncertain.

Click thumbnail below for full size image

Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah

The Bingham Canyon Mine (image center) is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, measuring over 4 kilometers wide and 1,200 meters deep. Located about 30 kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, the mine exploits a porphyry copper deposit, a geological structure formed by crystal-rich magma moving upwards through pre-existing rock layers. As the magma cools and crystallizes, it forms an igneous rock with large crystals embedded in a fine-grained matrix, known as a porphyry. Hot fluids circulate through the magma and surrounding rocks via fractures, depositing copper-bearing and other minerals in spatial patterns that a geologist recognizes as a potential porphyry copper deposit.

Mining first began in Bingham Canyon in the late nineteenth century, when shafts were sunk to remove gold, silver, and lead deposits that played out by the early 1900s. It would take the advent of open-pit mining in 1899 to turn the Bingham copper deposit into an economically favorable resource. In open-pit mining, the copper-containing rocks are excavated from the surface downward in terraces. By the 1930s, open-pit mining had turned “the Hill” at Bingham Canyon into “the Pit.”

This astronaut photograph of the Bingham Canyon Mine shows parallel benches (stepped terraces) along the western pit face. These benches range from 16 to 25 meters high, and they provide access for equipment to work the rock face and maintaining the stability of the sloping pit walls. A dark, larger roadway is also visible directly below the benches. Brown to gray, flat-topped hills of gangue (waste rock) surround the pit, and are thrown into sharp relief by shadows and the oblique (from the side) viewing angle of the photograph. Reservoirs for leach water (associated with ore processing) are visible to the south of the city of Bingham Canyon.

Today’s copper market is booming thanks to global demands from construction, telecommunications, and electronics sectors of the economy. The Kennecott Utah Copper Company removes about half a million tons of material from the Bingham Canyon Mine every day for processing. In 1906, the rate of removal was 100,000 tons of material per month. Over 17 million tons of copper have been removed to date. Geological and engineering models suggest that the mine can be deepened by an additional 200 meters before extraction costs become greater than the value of the remaining copper.

The geological and chemical processes that produce copper deposits also produce minerals such as iron sulfides, which react with water or oxygen on the surface to produce colourful minerals. Geologists can sometimes use satellite observations to identify places where the topography and the rock types on the surface suggest copper ores might be present below ground. Read the feature story Prospecting from Orbit for more information.

Click thumbnail below for full size image

Pearl Harbour, Hawaii

Digging all three of those pictures

 

[Galactic]

Damn cool idea for a thread.....really cool pics thus far. :thumbsup:

 

[Shadowfax 10]

I like the cool pictures.:thumbsup:

 

[tittenman]

San Francisco from the International Space Station

This image shows a photograph of San Francisco taken as the International Space Station passed 383 km overhead on November 10, 2000. It was taken by astronauts looking out one of the station windows using 35 mm film and a 400 mm lens. The view includes the area stretching from the Golden Gate Bridge in the north to the San Mateo Bridge on the southeast.

In the full-resolution version major landmarks are easily distinguished, and wider streets such as Van Ness and Geary can be easily distinguished from the less distinct grid of smaller streets. Digitized from film at high resolution, each pixel in this image represents 14.6 m on the ground.

Click thumbnail below for full size image








Napoli and Volcanism - Vesuvius and Mt. Etna
When this southward-looking photograph was taken by the Expedition 2 crew aboard the International Space Station, the city of Catania (in shadow, ~25 km SSE of the volcano) was covered by a layer of ash and Fontanarossa International Airport was closed. On that day an ash cloud was reported to have reached a maximum height of ~5.2 km. Plumes from two sources are visible here—a dense, darker mass from one of the three summit craters and a lighter, lower one.

The record of historical volcanism of Mt. Etna is one of the longest in the world, dating back to 1500 BC. Two styles of activity are typical: explosive eruptions, sometimes with minor lava flows, from the summit craters and flank eruptions from fissures.

Click thumbnail below for full size image

 

[Skyraider22]

Who knew it was that small amazing:thumbsup:

 

[tittenman]

Ash and Steam Plume, Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat

The Soufrière Hills, a volcano on the island of Montserrat, in the Lesser Antilles island chain in the Caribbean Sea, has been active since 1995. The most recent eruptive phase of the volcano began with a short swarm of volcano-tectonic earthquakes—earthquakes thought to be caused by movement of magma beneath a volcano—on October 4, 2009, followed by a series of ash-venting events that have continued through October 13, 2009. These venting events create plumes that can deposit ash at significant distances from the volcano. In addition to ash plumes, pyroclastic flows and lava dome growth have been reported as part of the current eruptive activity.

This oblique astronaut photograph from the International Space Station (ISS) captures a white-to-gray ash and steam plume extending westwards from the volcano on October 11, 2009. Oblique images are taken by astronauts looking out from the ISS at an angle, rather than looking straight downward toward the Earth (a perspective called a nadir view), as is common with most remotely sensed data from satellites. An oblique view gives the scene a more three-dimension quality, and provides a look at the vertical structure of the volcanic plume.

While much of the island is covered in green vegetation, gray deposits that include pyroclastic flows and volcanic mudflows (lahars) are visible extending from the volcano toward the coastline. When compared to its extent in earlier views, the volcanic debris has filled in more of the eastern coastline. Urban areas are visible in the northern and western portions of the island; they are recognizable by linear street patterns and the presence of bright building rooftops. The silver-gray appearance of the Caribbean Sea surface is due to sunglint, which is the mirror-like reflection of sunlight off the water surface back towards the handheld camera onboard the ISS. The sunglint highlights surface wave patterns around the island.