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Images of Tehran and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
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Snow in Iran
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Snow in Iran |
| Description |
Heavy snow settled over Iran on January 23, 2005, closing roads and isolating many northern villages. The snow fell heaviest in the northern Zagros Mountains, where as much as 75 cm (32 inches) fell in a single night, but the white extends south along the spine of the mountains almost to the Persian Gulf. The snow also covers the Alborz range in the northeast. Located along the southern front of the Alborz mountains, Iran?s capital, Tehran, was also blanketed with snow. This true-color image of the snow-covered region was acquired on January 26, after the clouds had largely cleared from the region. It appears that the snow extends across the border into Turkey and northern Iraq, though clouds make it difficult to see the extent of the snow cover in Turkey. The same weather system that brought snow to Iran also triggered a massive dust storm [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12690 ] in the Persian Gulf states. Dust from the storm settled on the snow in western Iran, near the Iraqi border, giving the snow-covered mountains a slightly tan tint. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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Alborz Mountains in Moonligh
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| Title |
Alborz Mountains in Moonlight |
| Explanation |
On January 25th, light from a first quarter Moon illuminated this dreamlike [ http://www.dreamview.net/dv/new/ browse.asp?cat=NightSky&page=1 ] landscape looking across the rugged, snow-covered peaks of the Alborz Mountain Range [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alborz ] in northern Iran. The stunning sky is filled with stars, including the yellow-tinged Betelgeuse [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/betelgeuse.html ] at the shoulder of Orion [ http://www.gb.nrao.edu/~rmaddale/Education/OrionTourCenter/ optical.html ]. Sirius [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sirius.html ], alpha star of Canis Major [ http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cma/index.html ] and the brightest star in planet Earth's night [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/bright.html ], stands above and left of picture center. The eerie glow along the Haraz valley in the foreground is light from cars traveling a highway leading from Tehran to the Caspian Sea [ http://www.google.com/ maps?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=6&ll=35.639441,51.987305&spn=10.706691,10.371094&t=k ]. |
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Comet Holmes in Outburst
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Comet Holmes in Outburst |
| Explanation |
Comet 17P/Holmes [ http://cometography.com/pcomets/017p.html ] stunned comet watchers [ http://www.spaceweather.com/comets/ gallery_holmes.html ] across planet Earth earlier this week. On October 24, it increased in brightness over half a million times in a matter of hours. The outburst [ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/ 10775326.html ] transformed it from an obscure and faint comet quietly orbiting the Sun with a period of about 7 years to a naked-eye comet rivaling the brighter stars in the constellation Perseus [ http://spaceweather.com/images2007/24oct07/ skymap_north_holmes.gif ]. Recorded on that date, this view from Tehran, Iran highlights the comet's (enhanced and circled) dramatic new visibility in urban skies. The inset (left) is a telescopic image [ http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/ 17P_Holmes102407.html ] from a backyard in Buffalo, New York showing the comet's greatly expanded coma [ http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/comet_worldbook.html ], but apparent lack of a tail. Holmes' outburst [ http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0017P/ 2007.html ] could be due to a sudden exposure of fresh cometary ice or even the breakup of the comet nucleus [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/nucleus.html ]. The comet may well remain bright in the coming days. |
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