Home >>	Advanced Search >>

Astronaut Photography of Earth - Display Record

ISS007-E-10974

Low-resolution Browse Image

(Most browse images are not color adjusted.)

Images

Conditions for Use of Images >>
Image Transformation Tutorial >> Saving, Color Adjusting, and Printing Images >>

Images to View on Your Computer Now

	File Name	File Size (bytes)	Width	Height	Annotated	Cropped	Purpose	Comments
View	ISS007-E-10974.JPG	12355	540	405		Yes	NASA's Earth Observatory web site
View	ISS007-E-10974.JPG	12355	540	405	No	No	NASA's Earth Observatory web site
View	ISS007-E-10974.JPG	14939	540	405			Photographic Highlights	(resized 540 px images)
View	ISS007-E-10974.JPG	23624	639	435	No	No
View	ISS007-E-10974.JPG	45058	540	405			Scientist Request	Online Publication
View	ISS007-E-10974.JPG	511204	1000	661	No	No	NASA's Earth Observatory web site

Large Images to Request for Downloading

	File Name	File Size (bytes)	Width	Height	Annotated	Cropped	Purpose	Comments
Request	ISS007-E-10974.JPG	69157	1024	768			Photographic Highlights	(actual files used)
Request	ISS007-E-10974.JPG	235799	1024	768		Yes	Presentation	Color adjusted
Request	ISS007-E-10974.JPG	605381	3032	2064	No	No
Request	ISS007-E-10974_2.JPG	2477738	6144	4068	No	No	Presentation	Earth Sciences Results Briefing/Ed Lu
Request	ISS007-E-10974.TIF	18278084	3032	2008	No	No	Publisher Request

Download a Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file for use in Google Earth.

Electronic Image Data

Camera Files >> No sound file available.

Identification

Mission: ISS007 Roll: E Frame: 10974 Mission ID on the Film or image: ISS007
Country or Geographic Name: ASIA
Features: NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS, MOON
Center Point Latitude: Center Point Longitude: (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude)
Stereo: (Yes indicates there is an adjacent picture of the same area)
ONC Map ID: JNC Map ID:

Camera

Camera Tilt: High Oblique
Camera Focal Length: 400mm
Camera: E4: Kodak DCS760C Electronic Still Camera
Film: 3060E : 3060 x 2036 pixel CCD, RGBG array.

Quality

Film Exposure:
Percentage of Cloud Cover: (0-10)

Nadir

Date: 20030727 (YYYYMMDD)GMT Time: 171556 (HHMMSS)
Nadir Point Latitude: 46.5, Longitude: 96.2 (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude)
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: West
Sun Azimuth: 353 (Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point)
Spacecraft Altitude: 203 nautical miles (376 km)
Sun Elevation Angle: -24 (Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point)
Orbit Number: 2733

Captions

The sliver of the setting moon and clouds that shine at night—noctilucent clouds—caught the eye of astronaut Ed Lu aboard the International Space Station (ISS) last week.

Noctilucent clouds are very high clouds that look like cirrus clouds, but are much higher (75-90 km above the Earth’s surface) than clouds that we observe every day. They are optically thin and can only be observed during twilight hours, when the sun is just below the horizon and only shines on the uppermost atmosphere. In this image, the limb of the Earth at the bottom transitions into the orange-colored troposphere, the lowest and most dense portion of the Earth’s atmosphere. The troposphere ends abruptly at the tropopause, which appears in the image as the sharp boundary between the orange- and blue- colored atmosphere. The silvery-blue noctilucent clouds are far above this boundary.

This image was taken July 27, 2003 when the ISS was over central Asia. June and July is the season for noctilucent clouds in the northern hemisphere—they form in the polar mesosphere, generally above 50 degrees latitude. Recent studies address why noctilucent clouds exist, whether the frequency of occurrence has increased throughout the 20th century (some researchers believe they have), and whether their frequency reflects human activities. Astronauts and cosmonauts have observed them over northern latitudes (Europe, Russia) in the past, but this summer’s display has been remarkable.

References:
Zahn, U. , Are Noctilucent Clouds Truly a “Miner’s Canary” for Global Change?, Eos, Vol. 84, No. 28, July 15, 2003
Links:
http://www.meteo.helsinki.fi/~tpnousia/nlcgal/nlcinfo.html
http://lasp.colorado.edu/noctilucent_clouds/
http://www.u-net.com/ph/mas/observe/nlc/nlc.htm

Download Packaged File.
This option downloads the following items, packaged into a single file, if they are available:

Browse image
Cataloged information with captions
Camera file
Sound file

Search the Astronaut Photography Database

Server: 2

This service is provided by the International Space Station program.