Image of The Day

X-ray Clues Reveal Destroyed Planet

In about 5 billion years, our Sun will run out of fuel and expand, possibly engulfing Earth. These end stages of a star’s life can be utterly beautiful – as is the case with this planetary nebula called the Helix Nebula. Astronomers study these objects by looking at all kinds of light. This images show X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (magenta), optical light data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (orange, light blue), infrared data from the European Southern Observatory VISTA telescope (gold, dark blue), and ultraviolet data from GALEX (purple) of the Helix Nebula.

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Andreas Mogensen captures first pictures of thunderclouds and lightning

Andreas Mogensen, Denmark’s first astronaut, has successfully photographed thunderclouds during his IRISS mission on the International Space Station. The images are likely to provide researchers with deep insight into thunderclouds and giant lightning bolts. Picture: ESA.

Andreas Mogensen to film lightning and thunderstorms from space

During his 10-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the Danish ESA-astronaut, Andreas Mogensen will film lightning and thunderstorms from the ISS. He will carry out Project Thor as a pilot experiment for the coming ASIM mission aboard the ISS. See the full story in on the Danish National Space Institute website

New knowledge about thunderstorm effects on the climate

For the first time researchers are able to describe thundercloud activity in the stratosphere. The research is based on videos captured by ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen during his time at the International Space Station. The study has just been published in Geophysical Research Letters. Picture: NASA