Sidusglacies - ⚡️

A near-infrared view of the giant planet Uranus with rings and some of its moons, obtained on November 19, 2002, with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument on the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope at the ESO Paranal Observatory (Chile). The moons are identified; the unidentified, round object to the left is a background star. The image scale in indicated by the bar.

Credit: ESO

Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence wide-angle ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst took this image of Hurricane Florence on 12 September 2018, 400 km high from the International Space Station. He commented: “Watch out, America! Hurricane Florence is so enormous, we could only capture her with a super wide angle lens from the International Space Station, 400 km directly above the eye. Get prepared on the East Coast, this is a no-kidding nightmare coming for you.” Alexander is on his second six-month Space Station mission.

the saline water from your mouth | © víctor m. alonso

"Give me the essence of your nights,

give me the saline water from your mouth,"

"Dame la esencia de tus noches,

dame el agua salina de tu boca,"

[© víctor m. alonso | from the poem 'amor']

I would choose you in every life;

time after time, we meet again.

Polar Vortex Disruption Of January 2013

Satellite imagery of the disruption of the polar vortex in the northern hemisphere winter 2012-2013. The data show a major stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) event, linked to the distortion and reversal of the normal westerly (moving west to east) flow of air. 

The large vortex (bright) over the North Atlantic Ocean at the start of the clip breaks up into several smaller vortices. This is due to air from lower latitudes (dark) becoming entrained in the polar flow, forming an anti-cyclonic region (dark, rotating clockwise) over Japan and eastern Russia, which disrupts the flow across the region. 

Learn More About The Polar Vortex

Although dramatic, such events are not rare, occurring every two years on average. They can cause winds to reverse near the surface too, leading to very cold spells, especially in North America and Europe. 

The brightness indicates the potential vorticity of the air, a measure of its rotation within its flow, at an altitude of 35 kilometers. Brighter regions have more vorticity. 

A major SSW occurs when the temperatures in the stratosphere around the pole increases by at least 25 Kelvin within a week, causing the wind to change direction. 

The data were gathered by the GEOS-5 satellite every hour between 15th December 2012 and 28th January 2013.

© GMAO / GSFC / NASA / Science Source

Grand Teton, Wyoming, photo by Mike Holloman

These beautiful Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds were spotted over Lincolnshire on December 19th. They form between two layers of air, one of which is moving faster than the other. Although that situation is not very unusual, the conditions have to be just right for visible clouds to form at that interface between layers, and the clouds themselves are typically short-lived. This set is particularly lovely with its smooth curves and breaking wave form. If you, like me, love these clouds but never manage to see them yourself, you can always try wearing some instead! (Image credit: A. Towriss; via BBC News; submitted by Vince D.)

What are Trans-Neptunian object?

A trans-Neptunian object (TNO), also written transneptunian object, is any minor planet or dwarf planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune, which has a semi-major axis of 30.1 astronomical units (AU).

The first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered was Pluto in 1930. It took until 1992 to discover a second trans-Neptunian object orbiting the Sun directly, 15760 Albion. The most massive TNO known is Eris, followed by Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Gonggong. source

thought i’d post since it is very truthful!