Lightning flashes from a storm cloud to strike the ground. Such bolts represent only a small part of the overall phenomenon of lightning. The most powerful activity occurs high above the surface, in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Up there, lightning creates brief bursts of gamma rays that are the most hi […]
挪威斯瓦尔巴群岛北极地区的一个小冰川，由美国宇航局的空中热带对流层顶实验(ATTREX)拍摄。这是冰层加速融化导致淡水资源枯竭的七个地区之一。 来源：NASA/John Sonntag 一项新的研究显示，在全球冰量损失最严重的地区中，有七个正在加速融化，而融化速度的加快正在耗尽数百万人赖以生存的淡水资源。 格陵兰岛和南极洲融化的冰对世界海洋的影响已得到充分证明。但是，导致20世纪海平面上升的最大因素是位于其他七个地区的冰盖和冰川融化：阿拉斯加、加拿大北极群岛、安第斯山脉南部、亚洲高山地区、俄罗斯北极地区、冰岛和挪威群岛斯瓦尔巴特群岛。北极的五个地区是冰量损失最多的地区。 根据NASA喷气推进实
2020 June 3 The Dance of Venus and Earth Video & Text Credit: James O’Donoghue (JAXA); Data: NASA, HORIZONS; h/t: Josef Chlachula Explanation: Every time Venus passes the Earth, it shows the same face. This remarkable fact has been known for only about 50 years, ever since radio telescope
2020 May 27 Earth and Moon through Saturn’s Rings Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL-Caltech, SSI, Cassini Imaging Team; Processing & License: Kevin M. Gill Explanation: What are those dots between Saturn’s rings? Our Earth and Moon. Just over three years ago, because the Sun was temporar
The crew of the International Space Station snapped this image of a typhoon in the South Pacific Ocean on May 13, 2020. NASA Earth-observing satellites track hurricanes and other tropical storms wherever they occur on the planet. Image Credit: NASA 国际空间站的工作人员于2020年5月13日在南太平洋拍摄了这张台风的照片。美国宇航局的地球观测卫星跟踪
2020 May 20 Moon, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Milk Way Image Credit & Copyright: Mihail Minkov Explanation: It is not a coincidence that planets line up. That’s because all of the planets orbit the Sun in (nearly) a single sheet called the plane of the ecliptic. When viewed from inside that pla
2020 May 4 Earth Flyby of BepiColombo Image Credit & License: ESA, BepiColombo, MTM Explanation: What it would look like to approach planet Earth? Such an event was recorded visually in great detail by ESA’s and JAXA’s robotic BepiColombo spacecraft last month as it swung back past E
The Susquehanna River cuts through the folds of the Valley-and-Ridge province of the Appalachian Mountains in this photograph taken by the crew of the International Space Station. The Valley-and-Ridge province is a section of the larger Appalachian Mountain Belt between the Appalachian Plateau and t
On the northwestern coast of Madagascar, the salty waters of the Mozambique Channel penetrate inland to join with the freshwater outflow of the Betsiboka River, forming Bombetoka Bay. Numerous islands and sandbars have formed in the estuary from the large amount of sediment carried in by the Betsibo
Stretching from tropical Florida to the doorstep of Europe, the Gulf Stream carries a lot of heat, salt and history. This river of water is an important part of the global ocean conveyor belt, moving water and heat from the Equator toward the far North Atlantic. It is one of the strongest currents o
