Browse All : Images of Kentucky and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme

The Carina Nebula: Star Birt …

Title	The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. In celebration of the 17th anniversary of the launch and deployment of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers is releasing one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble's cameras. READ: Junior version of this article Amazing Space Learn about this story in the Star Witness, a science newspaper available on our sister site, Amazing Space. [ http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/news/archive/2007/02/ ] It is a 50-light-year-wide view of the central region of the Carina Nebula where a maelstrom of star birth &#151, and death &#151, is taking place. This image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of neutral hydrogen during March and July 2005. Color information was added with data taken in December 2001 and March 2003 at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Hubble Finds that Earth is S …

Title	Hubble Finds that Earth is Safe from One Class of Gamma-ray Burst

Kentucky Fires Fly Up from SeaWiFS: November 16, 1999 (Flat 1)

Kentucky Fires Fly Up from S …

Title	Kentucky Fires Fly Up from SeaWiFS: November 16, 1999 (Flat 1)
Abstract	On November 16, 1999, the state of Kentucky was under attack by fire.
Completed	1999-11-17

Terra/Aqua Snow Sequence January/February 2003

Terra/Aqua Snow Sequence Jan …

Title	Terra/Aqua Snow Sequence January/February 2003
Abstract	This is a sequence of snow images from the Terra and Aqua Satellites in January and February 2003.
Completed	2003-02-26

Kentucky Fires Fly Up from SeaWiFS: November 16, 1999 (Globe 1)

Kentucky Fires Fly Up from S …

Title	Kentucky Fires Fly Up from SeaWiFS: November 16, 1999 (Globe 1)
Abstract	On November 16, 1999, the state of Kentucky was under attack by fire.
Completed	1999-11-17

Kentucky Fires Fly Up SeaWiFS: November 16, 1999 (Flat 2)

Kentucky Fires Fly Up SeaWiF …

Title	Kentucky Fires Fly Up SeaWiFS: November 16, 1999 (Flat 2)
Abstract	On November 16, 1999, the state of Kentucky was under attack by fire.
Completed	1999-11-17

Floods in the Ohio River Val …

Title	Floods in the Ohio River Valley
Description	Heavy rain and snow had swollen the rivers of Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky, pushing many past flood stage during the first two weeks of January 2005. The flooding occurred after several days of rain and snow fell on the already saturated ground of the U.S. Midwest. Since the water could not be absorbed into the soaked ground, it ran off as flood water. The storms were followed by warm temperatures, which melted the snow and produced further flooding. By January 17, some of the flooding had started to recede, but large tracts of land along the Ohio and Wabash Rivers were still under water. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) flying aboard NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image of the flooded rivers on January 17. The Ohio and Wabash Rivers are the most noticeably flooded, but many other rivers are also much larger than they were on November 25, 2004. On November 25, the Wabash River measured less than 3 pixels across in the 500-meter-resolution MODIS image (the large image provided above). On January 17, the river spanned 18 pixels at its widest point, increasing its width from approximately 1.5 kilometers to 9 kilometers. The Ohio River similarly grew to a width of 13.5 kilometers in the top image. Floods along the Ohio are not unusual, but the timing of this flood was. The Ohio River and its tributaries often flood in the spring when winter's snow melts and runs into regional rivers. This flood, however, occurred in the middle of the winter, which is unusual. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. The images are available in additional resolutions [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?USA3 ].

Floods in the Ohio River Val …

Title	Floods in the Ohio River Valley
Description	Heavy rain and snow had swollen the rivers of Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky, pushing many past flood stage during the first two weeks of January 2005. The flooding occurred after several days of rain and snow fell on the already saturated ground of the U.S. Midwest. Since the water could not be absorbed into the soaked ground, it ran off as flood water. The storms were followed by warm temperatures, which melted the snow and produced further flooding. By January 17, some of the flooding had started to recede, but large tracts of land along the Ohio and Wabash Rivers were still under water. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) flying aboard NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image of the flooded rivers on January 17. The Ohio and Wabash Rivers are the most noticeably flooded, but many other rivers are also much larger than they were on November 25, 2004. On November 25, the Wabash River measured less than 3 pixels across in the 500-meter-resolution MODIS image (the large image provided above). On January 17, the river spanned 18 pixels at its widest point, increasing its width from approximately 1.5 kilometers to 9 kilometers. The Ohio River similarly grew to a width of 13.5 kilometers in the top image. Floods along the Ohio are not unusual, but the timing of this flood was. The Ohio River and its tributaries often flood in the spring when winter's snow melts and runs into regional rivers. This flood, however, occurred in the middle of the winter, which is unusual. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. The images are available in additional resolutions [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?USA3 ].

Floods in the Southeastern United States

Floods in the Southeastern U …

Title	Floods in the Southeastern United States
Description	Weekend storms dumped heavy rain over Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee on September 23 and 24, 2006. More than 10 inches of rain fell over parts of the region, giving rise to flash floods that killed 12 people, reported the Associated Press. [ http://abcnews.go.com/US/Weather/wireStory?id=2487440&page=1 ] By September 25, the clouds had cleared, providing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite this view of the floods. In the top image, large portions of northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri are dotted with dark pools of standing water. The rivers flowing into the Mississippi River in Kentucky are swollen, as are rivers in Arkansas. At the time this image was collected, a flood advisory [ http://www.srh.noaa.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=ARZ016&warncounty=ARC063&local_place1=Newark&product1=Flood+Statement ] remained in effect for the Black River, which flows north-south along the left edge of the image. The lower image shows the four states on September 20, a few days before the storms. In this image, it is clear that much of the land that was flooded was agricultural land. Cultivated land on both sides of the Mississippi River forms a grid of tan and green squares. Primarily natural or non-cultivated vegetation, by contrast, is solid green. The floods on the west side of the Mississippi have a checker-board appearance, indicating that water covers low-lying, rectangular farm fields. The large images provided above are at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?USA7/2006268 ] of the southeastern United States are available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team in a variety of resolutions. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.

Floods in the Southeastern U …

Title	Floods in the Southeastern United States
Description	Weekend storms dumped heavy rain over Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee on September 23 and 24, 2006. More than 10 inches of rain fell over parts of the region, giving rise to flash floods that killed 12 people, reported the Associated Press. [ http://abcnews.go.com/US/Weather/wireStory?id=2487440&page=1 ] By September 25, the clouds had cleared, providing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite this view of the floods. In the top image, large portions of northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri are dotted with dark pools of standing water. The rivers flowing into the Mississippi River in Kentucky are swollen, as are rivers in Arkansas. At the time this image was collected, a flood advisory [ http://www.srh.noaa.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=ARZ016&warncounty=ARC063&local_place1=Newark&product1=Flood+Statement ] remained in effect for the Black River, which flows north-south along the left edge of the image. The lower image shows the four states on September 20, a few days before the storms. In this image, it is clear that much of the land that was flooded was agricultural land. Cultivated land on both sides of the Mississippi River forms a grid of tan and green squares. Primarily natural or non-cultivated vegetation, by contrast, is solid green. The floods on the west side of the Mississippi have a checker-board appearance, indicating that water covers low-lying, rectangular farm fields. The large images provided above are at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?USA7/2006268 ] of the southeastern United States are available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team in a variety of resolutions. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.

Floods in the Southern and Midwestern United States

Floods in the Southern and M …

Title	Floods in the Southern and Midwestern United States
Description	At the point where Illinois, Kentucky, and Indiana meet, the Wabash River flows into the Ohio River, which in turn will eventually feed the Mississippi River. The two rivers are susceptible to flooding in the winter and spring, and by the end of January 2007, the confluence of the Wabash and the Ohio bulged with water. The floods came after a series of winter storms pummeled the Midwest United States in mid-January. The effect of the storms on the rivers is clear from this pair of false-color images, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. The images are made with a combination and infrared and visible light, which makes water much more visible than it would be in a photo-like image. In this combination of wavelengths, water is dark blue or black, plant-covered land is green, sparsely vegetated or bare ground is tan-pink, and burned ground is red-brown. Icy clouds are light blue, while water clouds are white. The top image was take on January 23, 2007, shortly after the storm clouds cleared. Compared to the lower image, which was taken on January 2, the Wabash, Ohio, and Little Wabash Rivers are all swollen. By January 25, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?USA3/2007025 ] the floods appeared to be receding. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?USA3/2007025 ] of the Midwest are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.

Floods in the Southern and M …

Title	Floods in the Southern and Midwestern United States
Description	At the point where Illinois, Kentucky, and Indiana meet, the Wabash River flows into the Ohio River, which in turn will eventually feed the Mississippi River. The two rivers are susceptible to flooding in the winter and spring, and by the end of January 2007, the confluence of the Wabash and the Ohio bulged with water. The floods came after a series of winter storms pummeled the Midwest United States in mid-January. The effect of the storms on the rivers is clear from this pair of false-color images, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. The images are made with a combination and infrared and visible light, which makes water much more visible than it would be in a photo-like image. In this combination of wavelengths, water is dark blue or black, plant-covered land is green, sparsely vegetated or bare ground is tan-pink, and burned ground is red-brown. Icy clouds are light blue, while water clouds are white. The top image was take on January 23, 2007, shortly after the storm clouds cleared. Compared to the lower image, which was taken on January 2, the Wabash, Ohio, and Little Wabash Rivers are all swollen. By January 25, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?USA3/2007025 ] the floods appeared to be receding. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?USA3/2007025 ] of the Midwest are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.

Floods in the U.S. Midwest

Title	Floods in the U.S. Midwest
Description	Floods in the U.S. Midwest Heavy rain and snow on January 4 and 5, 2004, have left swollen rivers throughout the U.S. Midwest. Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky are shown in these false-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) images where water is black, vegetation is green, and clouds are white and peach. In the top image, taken on January 7, 2004, by the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, the Ohio, Wabash, and White Rivers are noticeably wider compared to an image acquired just one week earlier. The Ohio and the Wabash Rivers form a ?v? in the center of the image, with the Ohio River on the south. Near the top of the image, the White River branches off of the Wabash River. Other area rivers also appear to be fuller. The states affected by the floods include Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. According to news reports, the flood waters are covering mostly farmland, though houses and roads were also flooded. Cold temperatures followed the storm, making clean-up difficult. The high-resolution images provided above have a resolution of 500 meters per pixel. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC

Floods in the U.S. Midwest

Title	Floods in the U.S. Midwest
Description	Floods in the U.S. Midwest Heavy rain and snow on January 4 and 5, 2004, have left swollen rivers throughout the U.S. Midwest. Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky are shown in these false-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) images where water is black, vegetation is green, and clouds are white and peach. In the top image, taken on January 7, 2004, by the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, the Ohio, Wabash, and White Rivers are noticeably wider compared to an image acquired just one week earlier. The Ohio and the Wabash Rivers form a ?v? in the center of the image, with the Ohio River on the south. Near the top of the image, the White River branches off of the Wabash River. Other area rivers also appear to be fuller. The states affected by the floods include Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. According to news reports, the flood waters are covering mostly farmland, though houses and roads were also flooded. Cold temperatures followed the storm, making clean-up difficult. The high-resolution images provided above have a resolution of 500 meters per pixel. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC

Floods in the U.S. Midwest

Title	Floods in the U.S. Midwest
Description	Floods in the U.S. Midwest Heavy rain and snow on January 4 and 5, 2004, have left swollen rivers throughout the U.S. Midwest. Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky are shown in these false-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) images where water is black, vegetation is green, and clouds are white and peach. In the top image, taken on January 7, 2004, by the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, the Ohio, Wabash, and White Rivers are noticeably wider compared to an image acquired just one week earlier. The Ohio and the Wabash Rivers form a ?v? in the center of the image, with the Ohio River on the south. Near the top of the image, the White River branches off of the Wabash River. Other area rivers also appear to be fuller. The states affected by the floods include Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. According to news reports, the flood waters are covering mostly farmland, though houses and roads were also flooded. Cold temperatures followed the storm, making clean-up difficult. The high-resolution images provided above have a resolution of 500 meters per pixel. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC

Drought in the United States

Title	Drought in the United States
Description	Record high temperatures combined with dry weather to plunge the Southeast United States deeper into drought in August 2007. Some states, including Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, were in exceptional drought, the highest rating on a five-point scale designated by the U.S. Drought Monitor. [ http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html ] In early August, a record-breaking heat wave settled over the southeastern United States, where land was already parched from a lack of rain. The temperatures baked the dry soil, leaving it even drier, and stream flows dropped. The impact of the drought on vegetation is illustrated in this vegetation anomaly image, which was made with data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite between August 13 and August 28, 2007. Areas where plants were less lush than they had been on average since 2000 are brown, while better-than-average conditions are green. Normal conditions are yellow, and areas that were covered in clouds are gray. The prevalence of brown in this image shows the wide-spread nature of the drought. The strongest drought signal is in southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 87 percent of the topsoil in Tennessee and Kentucky was rated dry or very dry between August 14 and August 21. In Tennessee, 84 percent of pastures were in poor to very poor condition during the same period, a figure that matches the conditions illustrated here. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of Inbal Reshef, Global Agriculture Monitoring Project [ http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/glam.cfm ]

Hurricane Katrina

Title	Hurricane Katrina
Description	After forming in the central Bahamas, Katrina came ashore in south Florida as a Category 1 hurricane where it was responsible for 11 fatalities. The storm cut diagonally across the southern part of the state from just north of Miami on the east coast, through the Everglades, to Cape Sabel on the west coast. In the process, Katrina brought heavy amounts of rain to parts of south Florida and Cuba. This image shows the Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) rainfall totals due to the passage of Katrina for the period August 23 to 31, 2005. Storm symbols mark the track of Katrina at 0:00 UTC (8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (EDT) on the previous day), plus symbols are the location of Katrina at 12:00 UTC (8 a.m. EDT). The solid hurricane symbol represents a hurricane, the hollow symbol is a tropical storm, while a circle marks a tropical depression. The highest rainfall totals exceeded 12 inches of rain (dark red areas) over northwestern Cuba and the lower Florida Keys. Amounts over the southern Florida peninsula were between 5 and 8 inches (green to yellow area). Local WSR-88D radar esimates were locally much higher just west of Miami, but the overall pattern and amounts over the lower keys were in good agreement with the MPA totals. After entering the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina intensified into a large, powerful Category 5 storm as it turned north towards the north-central Gulf coast. Katrina came ashore as a powerful Category 4 storm over southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi, causing catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities. Rainfall totals immediately along the coast of Mississippi were between 6 and 9 inches (yellow to orange) in very good agreement with local radar estimates. After coming ashore, Katrina tracked quickly up through Mississippi, western Tennessee and Kentucky and into Ohio. Katrina's rapid forward progress helped keep rainfall totals down across the central United States with amounts generally less than 5 inches (green to blue) across northern Mississippi and parts of the Ohio valley. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has been measuring rainfall over the tropics since its launch in 1997. The MPA measures such as those show here are based on measurements by TRMM and other satellites. The MPA measurements are created at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to provide estimates of rainfall over the global tropics. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).

Hurricane Katrina

Title	Hurricane Katrina
Description	After forming in the central Bahamas, Katrina came ashore in south Florida as a Category 1 hurricane where it was responsible for 11 fatalities. The storm cut diagonally across the southern part of the state from just north of Miami on the east coast, through the Everglades, to Cape Sabel on the west coast. In the process, Katrina brought heavy amounts of rain to parts of south Florida and Cuba. This image shows the Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) rainfall totals due to the passage of Katrina for the period August 23 to 31, 2005. Storm symbols mark the track of Katrina at 0:00 UTC (8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (EDT) on the previous day), plus symbols are the location of Katrina at 12:00 UTC (8 a.m. EDT). The solid hurricane symbol represents a hurricane, the hollow symbol is a tropical storm, while a circle marks a tropical depression. The highest rainfall totals exceeded 12 inches of rain (dark red areas) over northwestern Cuba and the lower Florida Keys. Amounts over the southern Florida peninsula were between 5 and 8 inches (green to yellow area). Local WSR-88D radar esimates were locally much higher just west of Miami, but the overall pattern and amounts over the lower keys were in good agreement with the MPA totals. After entering the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina intensified into a large, powerful Category 5 storm as it turned north towards the north-central Gulf coast. Katrina came ashore as a powerful Category 4 storm over southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi, causing catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities. Rainfall totals immediately along the coast of Mississippi were between 6 and 9 inches (yellow to orange) in very good agreement with local radar estimates. After coming ashore, Katrina tracked quickly up through Mississippi, western Tennessee and Kentucky and into Ohio. Katrina's rapid forward progress helped keep rainfall totals down across the central United States with amounts generally less than 5 inches (green to blue) across northern Mississippi and parts of the Ohio valley. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has been measuring rainfall over the tropics since its launch in 1997. The MPA measures such as those show here are based on measurements by TRMM and other satellites. The MPA measurements are created at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to provide estimates of rainfall over the global tropics. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).

East Coast Snow Storm

Title	East Coast Snow Storm
Description	browse image of orbit 15805. (700 KB JPEG) The snowstorm which swept across the eastern United States on December 4 and 5 also brought the season's first snow to parts of the south and southern Appalachia. The extent of snow cover over central Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina and Virginia are apparent in this view from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR). This natural-color image was captured by MISR's downward-looking (nadir) camera on December 7, 2002. The Appalachians are bounded by the Blue Ridge mountain belt along the east and the Appalachian Plateau along the west. Valleys and ridges between the higher elevation areas retain the green and reddish-brown hues of autumn, and many rivers and lakes appear blue and unfrozen. The highest peak in the eastern United States, Mount Mitchell, is found in North Carolina's western tip, near the Great Smoky Mountains (the dark-colored range at lower right). The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude. The MISR Browse Image Viewer [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/MISRBR/ ] provides access to low-resolution true-color versions of these images. This data product was generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbit 15805. The image covers an area of 347 kilometers x 279 kilometers, and utilizes data from blocks 60 to 62 within World Reference System-2 path 19. Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] Text by Clare Averill (Acro Service Corporation/Jet Propulsion Laboratory).

Killer Storms in the southern Plains and the Southeast

Killer Storms in the souther …

Title	Killer Storms in the southern Plains and the Southeast
Description	animations: small movie (848 KB) large movie (2.8 MB) Severe thunder storms formed over the midwestern United States on May 4, 2003, and spawned dozens of tornadoes that swept through parts of Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee, leaving a wake of destruction and killing as many as 35 people. Eighty-three tornadoes were reported, according to an official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but the official count has not yet been confirmed. Pierce City, MO, was among the locations hardest hit. Residents of the small town in southwestern Missouri report that almost every structure in the townhouses and businesses alikewere flattened in a span of about 30 seconds by the tornado that roared through there. After forming late in the day over southeastern Kansas and Missouri, the line of thunder storms moved quickly eastward. Much of the damage appears to be along the Kansas-Missouri border. One official with the National Weather Service estimates that the storm that ripped through Pierce City was at least a Category F3 tornadopacking winds between 158 and 206 miles per hour. Eastern states have been put on alert as the storm system moves toward the southern states, bringing the potential for more tornadoes to occur in Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia. The image above was acquired by the NOAA GOES-12 satellite on May 4. The time series animation shows cloud tops of the storm system forming over southeastern Kansas and Missouri and then moving eastward as night falls. Image and animation courtesy Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory, GOES data courtesy Dennis Chesters, NASA GSFC

MISR Looks at Yugoslavia

Title	MISR Looks at Yugoslavia
Description	These Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) nadir camera images of Yugoslavia were acquired on July 28, 2000 during Terra orbit 3248. On the upper left left is a 'true color' (blue, green, red) image. Vegetation, which covers much of the land area, appears green because chlorophyll molecules absorb more blue and red light than green light. An independent method of detecting vegetation is to use the ratio of brightness in the near-infrared, where vegetation is typically bright as a result of reflection from the plants' cell walls, to the brightness in the red. In the upper right 'false color' image, this ratio has been substituted for the green band data, resulting in a representation that accentuates the land's vegetation. Yugoslavia is comprised of the Republics of Serbia and Montenegro. Serbia is over six times larger than Montenegro, and together they cover an area roughly comparable to the state of Kentucky. The northern part of Serbia contains fertile plains and a temperate continental climate, with gradual transitions between the seasons. Montenegro is more mountainous, and can experience heavy snowfall during the cold winters. About 10 kilometers from the Adriatic coast is Lake Skadar, the largest lake in the Balkans. Two-thirds of this lake belongs to Montenegro and one-third to Albania. The lower image is a higher resolution view of the region around the Yugoslavian capital city of Belgrade, highlighting some of the major rivers in the area. The international roads and railways passing through Yugoslavia's river valleys constitute the shortest link between Western and Central Europe on the one side, and the Middle East, Asia, and Africa on the other. Hence the geopolitical importance of this country's territory. The geopolitical changes throughout its history have put Yugoslavia in the worldwide spotlight, culminating most recently in a popular uprising and a newly elected government. NASA/GSFC/JPL, MISR Science Team.

Fires in Mississippi Valley

Title	Fires in Mississippi Valley
Description	What they lack in drama, the fires in the Southeast U.S. make up for in numbers each year. There are more fires in the Mississippi Valley, the Plains and the Southeast every year than there are out West, but they are generally much smaller and do not gain the attention of the national news media. This image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on September 16, 2003, shows dozens of actively burning fires (red dots) in the states east and west of the Mississippi River Plain, which cuts vertically through the image. States shown include (bottom row, left to right) Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. North of Louisiana, numerous fires are burning in Arkansas. Left and right of Arkansas are Oklahoma and Tennessee, respectively. Across the top (left to right) are Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. The vegetation that is spread over the region is showing little sign of the approaching autumn equinox. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

Thunderstorms in the Midwestern United States

Thunderstorms in the Midwest …

Title	Thunderstorms in the Midwestern United States
Description	A slow-moving weather front was responsible for spreading severe storms and flooding across parts of the southeastern and mid-western United States on September 23 and September 24, 2006. The storms occurred when low air pressure over the Central Plains drew warm, humid air up from the Gulf of Mexico. The warm air interacted with strong, upper-level winds. There were numerous reports of tornados, hail, and wind damage on Friday, September 22, across southeastern Missouri and the central Mississippi Valley. On Saturday, September 23, the focus shifted eastward into Tennessee and eastern Kentucky, with the primary threat being damaging winds. Overall, a total of 12 people died as a result of the storms, according to the Associated Press, but most of the fatalities were due to flash flooding [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13894 ] in Kentucky. These images, based on data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (known as TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]), show the flood-producing rains. The top image shows rainfall totals for September 23 and September 24 derived from the TRMM-based, near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which monitors rainfall over the global tropics. Dark red areas along the Arkansas-Missouri border and stretching into far western Kentucky indicate that rain amounts exceeded 10 inches (about 250 millimeters). Five-inch amounts (130 millimeters, shown in green) stretch from western Oklahoma and up through the Ohio Valley. The lower image shows an instantaneous snapshot of the actual storms as they swept through the Midwest. The image was taken by TRMM at 18:25 UTC (1:15 p.m. CDT) on September 23, 2006, and it shows the distribution of rain intensity as seen from above. A long line of storms (green area) moves southwest to northeast through the central Mississippi Valley. The storms are followed by a broader area of light rain (broad blue area). Areas of intense rainfall (darker reds) associated with heavier thunderstorms are located over northeast Texas, western Kentucky, and eastern Tennessee. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, while those in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).

Thunderstorms in the Midwest …

Title	Thunderstorms in the Midwestern United States
Description	A slow-moving weather front was responsible for spreading severe storms and flooding across parts of the southeastern and mid-western United States on September 23 and September 24, 2006. The storms occurred when low air pressure over the Central Plains drew warm, humid air up from the Gulf of Mexico. The warm air interacted with strong, upper-level winds. There were numerous reports of tornados, hail, and wind damage on Friday, September 22, across southeastern Missouri and the central Mississippi Valley. On Saturday, September 23, the focus shifted eastward into Tennessee and eastern Kentucky, with the primary threat being damaging winds. Overall, a total of 12 people died as a result of the storms, according to the Associated Press, but most of the fatalities were due to flash flooding [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13894 ] in Kentucky. These images, based on data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (known as TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]), show the flood-producing rains. The top image shows rainfall totals for September 23 and September 24 derived from the TRMM-based, near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which monitors rainfall over the global tropics. Dark red areas along the Arkansas-Missouri border and stretching into far western Kentucky indicate that rain amounts exceeded 10 inches (about 250 millimeters). Five-inch amounts (130 millimeters, shown in green) stretch from western Oklahoma and up through the Ohio Valley. The lower image shows an instantaneous snapshot of the actual storms as they swept through the Midwest. The image was taken by TRMM at 18:25 UTC (1:15 p.m. CDT) on September 23, 2006, and it shows the distribution of rain intensity as seen from above. A long line of storms (green area) moves southwest to northeast through the central Mississippi Valley. The storms are followed by a broader area of light rain (broad blue area). Areas of intense rainfall (darker reds) associated with heavier thunderstorms are located over northeast Texas, western Kentucky, and eastern Tennessee. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, while those in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).

Flooding along the Mississip …

Title	Flooding along the Mississippi
Description	large images: April 25, 2002 (1.8 MB JPEG) May 18, 2002 (2.3 MB JPEG) Over the past two weeks, heavy rains gave rise to floods all across the midwestern United States, killing 8 people and forcing many more from their homes. These false-color images show the junction of the Ohio River and the Mississippi River where the flooding was at its worse. The images compare April 25, 2002, to May 18, 2002, with data from the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] (MODIS), flying aboard NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] spacecraft. The Mississippi River rose up to 12 feet above flood stage in the area shown here. Southeast Missouri and northern Arkansas, which are west of the great river, felt the brunt of the floods. Altogether, more than 50 counties in the state of Missouri reported flood damage. Farther north in Illinois, Gov. George Ryan declared the entire state a natural disaster area. Severe floods also occurred to the east in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Normally, all the rivers in this image would resemble thin black lines (left image). Though skies in the region are clear now, thunderstorms are forecast for later this week, and heavy rains could lead to continued flooding. In these false-color images, green shows bare land surface and black is water. The orange-brown shades show vegetated areas and the pinkish-white patches are clouds. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] at NASA GSFC

Flooding along the Mississip …

Title	Flooding along the Mississippi
Description	large images: April 25, 2002 (1.8 MB JPEG) May 18, 2002 (2.3 MB JPEG) Over the past two weeks, heavy rains gave rise to floods all across the midwestern United States, killing 8 people and forcing many more from their homes. These false-color images show the junction of the Ohio River and the Mississippi River where the flooding was at its worse. The images compare April 25, 2002, to May 18, 2002, with data from the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] (MODIS), flying aboard NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] spacecraft. The Mississippi River rose up to 12 feet above flood stage in the area shown here. Southeast Missouri and northern Arkansas, which are west of the great river, felt the brunt of the floods. Altogether, more than 50 counties in the state of Missouri reported flood damage. Farther north in Illinois, Gov. George Ryan declared the entire state a natural disaster area. Severe floods also occurred to the east in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Normally, all the rivers in this image would resemble thin black lines (left image). Though skies in the region are clear now, thunderstorms are forecast for later this week, and heavy rains could lead to continued flooding. In these false-color images, green shows bare land surface and black is water. The orange-brown shades show vegetated areas and the pinkish-white patches are clouds. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] at NASA GSFC

Flooding along the Mississip …

Title	Flooding along the Mississippi
Description	large images: April 25, 2002 (1.8 MB JPEG) May 18, 2002 (2.3 MB JPEG) Over the past two weeks, heavy rains gave rise to floods all across the midwestern United States, killing 8 people and forcing many more from their homes. These false-color images show the junction of the Ohio River and the Mississippi River where the flooding was at its worse. The images compare April 25, 2002, to May 18, 2002, with data from the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] (MODIS), flying aboard NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] spacecraft. The Mississippi River rose up to 12 feet above flood stage in the area shown here. Southeast Missouri and northern Arkansas, which are west of the great river, felt the brunt of the floods. Altogether, more than 50 counties in the state of Missouri reported flood damage. Farther north in Illinois, Gov. George Ryan declared the entire state a natural disaster area. Severe floods also occurred to the east in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Normally, all the rivers in this image would resemble thin black lines (left image). Though skies in the region are clear now, thunderstorms are forecast for later this week, and heavy rains could lead to continued flooding. In these false-color images, green shows bare land surface and black is water. The orange-brown shades show vegetated areas and the pinkish-white patches are clouds. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] at NASA GSFC

Tropical Storm Bertha in the Gulf of Mexico

Tropical Storm Bertha in the …

Title	Tropical Storm Bertha in the Gulf of Mexico
Description	Remnants of Tropical Storm Bertha dumped heavy rains across parts of Louisiana and Mississippi on August 5, 2002. As much as 6.73 inches of rain fell in Pascagoula, Miss., according to news reports. Meanwhile, another tropical depression formed off the coast of South Carolina on Aug. 5 and is gathering strength. As of Aug. 6, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, just 4 mph short of becoming a tropical storm, and was moving slowly eastward. If it continues to intensify, it will become Tropical Storm Cristobol. Elsewhere in this scene, a widespread pall of haze can be seen spanning from Arkansas and Missouri across Tennessee and Kentucky, and into Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland. Many of these regions received Code Red air quality warnings. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC

Flooding on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers

Flooding on the Ohio and Mis …

Title	Flooding on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers
Description	In mid-May 2002, heavy rains gave rise to floods all across the midwestern United States, killing 8 people and forcing many more from their homes. This false-color image shows the junction of the Ohio River and the Mississippi River where the flooding was at its worst. The image was acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] spacecraft. The Mississippi River rose up to 12 feet above flood stage in the area shown here. Southeast Missouri and northern Arkansas, which are west of the great river, felt the brunt of the floods. Altogether, more than 50 counties in the state of Missouri reported flood damage. Farther north in Illinois, Gov. George Ryan declared the entire state a natural disaster area. Severe floods also occurred to the east in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Normally, all the rivers in this image would resemble thin black lines (left image). Though skies in the region are clear now, thunderstorms are forecast for later this week, and heavy rains could lead to continued flooding. In this false-color image, green shows land surface and black is water. The pinkish-white patches are clouds. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] at NASA GSFC

Flooding on the Ohio and Mis …

Title	Flooding on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers
Description	In mid-May 2002, heavy rains gave rise to floods all across the midwestern United States, killing 8 people and forcing many more from their homes. This false-color image shows the junction of the Ohio River and the Mississippi River where the flooding was at its worst. The image was acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA?s Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] spacecraft. The Mississippi River rose up to 12 feet above flood stage in the area shown here. Southeast Missouri and northern Arkansas, which are west of the great river, felt the brunt of the floods. Altogether, more than 50 counties in the state of Missouri reported flood damage. Farther north in Illinois, Gov. George Ryan declared the entire state a natural disaster area. Severe floods also occurred to the east in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Normally, all the rivers in this image would resemble thin black lines (left image). Though skies in the region are clear now, thunderstorms are forecast for later this week, and heavy rains could lead to continued flooding. In this false-color image, green shows land surface and black is water. The pinkish-white patches are clouds. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] at NASA GSFC

Flooding on the Ohio and Mis …

Title	Flooding on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers
Description	In mid-May 2002, heavy rains gave rise to floods all across the midwestern United States, killing 8 people and forcing many more from their homes. This false-color image shows the junction of the Ohio River and the Mississippi River where the flooding was at its worst. The image was acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA?s Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] spacecraft. The Mississippi River rose up to 12 feet above flood stage in the area shown here. Southeast Missouri and northern Arkansas, which are west of the great river, felt the brunt of the floods. Altogether, more than 50 counties in the state of Missouri reported flood damage. Farther north in Illinois, Gov. George Ryan declared the entire state a natural disaster area. Severe floods also occurred to the east in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Normally, all the rivers in this image would resemble thin black lines (left image). Though skies in the region are clear now, thunderstorms are forecast for later this week, and heavy rains could lead to continued flooding. In this false-color image, green shows land surface and black is water. The pinkish-white patches are clouds. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] at NASA GSFC

McNeil's Nebula

Title	McNeil's Nebula
Explanation	It was a clear, cold western Kentucky night [ http://www.wkaa.net/ article.php?articleid=32&cat=NW&ret=index.php ] on January 23rd as seasoned amateur astronomer Jay McNeil tried out his recently acquired 3-inch refracting telescope by imaging the area [ http://wkaa.net/gallery/mcneil/m78Lrgb ] around a familiar object, the M78 reflection nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030121.html ] in Orion. Days later while processing the images, he noted a substantial but totally unfamiliar nebulosity in the region! With a little help from his friends, his amazing discovery [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/08200/08284.html ] is now recognized as a newly visible reflection nebula surrounding a newborn star -- McNeil's Nebula [ http://spacsun.rice.edu/~has/ Articles.html#McNeils%20Nebula ]. Pictured here at the center of this close-up [ http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/mcneil.html ], McNeil's Nebula with its illuminating young star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970619.html ] at the tip, do not appear in images of the area before September 2003. The emergence of McNeil's Nebula [ http://www.rc-astro.com/nebulae/mcneil_anim.htm ] is a rare event to witness and astronomers are eagerly following its development, but Orion will soon lie too close to the Sun in the sky, interrupting further observations for several months. The Orion nebula complex [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/oricloud.html ] itself is around 1,500 light-years away. At that distance, the above image spans less than 10 light-years. "Update (Feb. 19)": While McNeil's Nebula was not seen on previous images, some dating back to 1951, it is reportedly apparent in an image of the region recorded in the mid-1960s and available on the SEDs [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/ m078_mcneil.html ] web site. This would indicate that the intriguing reflection nebula and illuminating star are variable, rather than "newly" emerging.