In what has been lauded as one of the more incredible photos of our planet ever released, NASA has issued a staggeringly high-definition photo of Earth from space. The photo was taken by the new Suomi NPP satellite, launched in late October of 2011. Here’s a smaller version:
Pretty incredible, right?
This photo is a composite image of several swaths of the Earth’s surface, all from January 4, 2012. Here’s the giant 8000x8000 version - gorgeous.
For a comparison of how much imaging technology has improved over the years, here’s the 1972 version of the same photo:
Quite a difference. Looking forward to seeing what other images come out of the satellite’s rotation.
Last week, the world saw a total lunar eclipse - the last one to occur before April 2014. Total lunar eclipses happen as the moon moves behind the Earth and into its shadow, essentially blocking the sun from illuminating the moon. As this gorgeous composite photo shows, the eclipse is visible for several hours, with the full moon rising in crimson as it passes through the atmosphere:
“The red tint of the eclipsed Moon was created by sunlight first passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, which preferentially scatters blue light (making the sky blue) but passes and refracts red light, before reflecting back off the Moon.”
Every lunar eclipse looks different because the tint and shading depend on the amount of clouds and volcanic dust in the earth’s atmosphere at the time of the eclipse.
This is a picture I took during last year’s Manhattanhenge, a jaw-droppingly beautiful spectacle that occurs when the sun sets just so between buildings in Midtown Manhattan. This surreal photo op only happens twice a year, when the sunset actually aligns with New York’s precise street grid and sets the skyscrapers aglow with light.
This photo was at the corner of 51st street and 6th avenue, but there are several other great spots to see the sunset, and according to Gothamist, this summer’s Manhattanhenge is today and tomorrow.
Unnoticed by many, the sunset point actually creeps day to day along the horizon: northward until the first day of summer, then returning southward until the first day of winter. In spite of what pop-culture tells you, the Sun rises due east and sets due west only twice per year. On the equinoxes: the first day of spring and of autumn. Every other day, the Sun rises and sets elsewhere on the horizon. Had Manhattan’s grid been perfectly aligned with the geographic north-south line, then the days of Manhattanhenge would coincide with the equinoxes. But Manhattan’s street grid is rotated 30 degrees east from geographic north, shifting the days of alignment elsewhere into the calendar.
If you’re in New York today and tomorrow, you can view Manhattanhenge on the wider, clear cross streets (the ones that cut a swath directly across the city): 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd and 57th streets are each a great pick, as well those directly adjacent (the photo above was at 56th, so one before or after usually works). Of course, having the Empire State Building or the Chrysler building in your photo will be particularly iconic and thus 34th and 42nd streets will be popular choices for tonight’s show.
Enjoy! If any Hipmunks manage to catch the show today or tomorrow, link to your photos in the comments and we’ll include them in a post later this month.
The perfect video for midweek blues: see what the earth looks like from space (in 1080p!) . Narrated by NASA’s astronaut. Dr. Justin Wilkinson, the video takes you from the deserts of Namibia to Eastern Russia to the Amazon, all as viewed from the air.
Bolivia from above.
Reminiscent of the incredible Earth from Above series from aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s five-year odyssey around the world, it’s a fantastic way to lose yourself in all the wonders that our planet has to offer.
Hipmunk may not be offering space flights in its flight searches anytime soon, but sign me up if they do! What a view….
After last April’s eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjalajökull volcano, millions of travelers were stranded from canceled flights due to the ash floating across Europe’s airspace. This week, another (slightly easier to pronounce) volcano in Iceland has erupted. After 7 years of relative inactivity, Grímsvötn burst back to the stage, shooting a huge plume of smoke 11 miles skyward. Already, dozens of flights have been canceled, but aviation experts expect that the fallout from the eruption will be less severe than last year when airspace was closed for over 6 days. Despite being relatively unaffected by the eruption in North America, it does give us an excuse to post this wondrous photo from NASA of the volcano from above:
If that photo wasn’t enough, check out this incredible video from Jon Gustafsson taken from a helicopter. I found the video on the Bad Astronomy blog and it’s certainly worth reposting here. With severe, constant lightening and the giant cloud of smoke billowing upward, it looks like Lord of the Rings’ Mordor as I would imagine it.
It took us 90 minutes to fly to Grímsvötn with a strong wind against us. The eruption looked magnificent in the sunset. Once we landed 5 miles away from the crater the cold glacier air hit us like a truck. We tried to work outside but I only lasted for a couple of minutes. Pilot Reynir Petursson also didn’t want to stay on the ground for too long since it was very windy and the ash fall was unpredictable. The light was also disappearing and he needs visual reference which is difficult on a white glacier […]Getting hit by lightning in that strong wind, extreme frost and next to a live volcano was not desirable. We made it back to Reykjavik at 2am.
For more incredible photos from the eruption, head on over to In Focus - they’ve curated close to 2 dozen from Grímsvötn. You can see them here. Big Picture has also put up their own set of eruption photos, different ones from In Focus and also worth a look.
This is a Hipmunk guest post from Jodi Ettenberg. Her views and opinions are hers alone and do not represent Hipmunk.
A galaxy that looks like a sombrero? Yeah, space has that. This image of the M104 galaxy highlights billions of old stars in its center, causing the diffuse glow of its “hat”:
And speaking of space, yesterday’s Endeavour shuttle launch was a wondrous thing to behold. NASA has posted the video of the launch, which will be Endeavour’s final mission.
When traveling around the world, tipping is always a question asked around the dinner table between travelers. Some countries don’t expect tipping unless you’re at a very high-end restaurant, others not only expect it but would be angry if you didn’t leave a tip before you leave. This handy infographic from Mint.com lists out the tipping etiquette in a bunch of different countries, from the USA to Argentina to China and more.
In 1909 the great-grandfather of Flickr user Cranewoods travelled to Moscow while accompanying a group of American champion trotting horses on an exhibition tour. Cranewoods has posted a beautiful set of the vintage photos from Russia, which he interited after his great-grandfathers death.
Pretty awesome: the world’s first completely digital sundial, using no electronics or electric power. Check out the post for a detailed explanation of how it works, plus the actual blueprints to build one yourself.
I absolutely loved this Octopus ballet, a high-definition deep-sea filming of one of my favourite animals, the Dumbo octopus. Surreal and graceful, its wing-like ears propel it through the dark depths of the ocean. Lovely.
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And finally, Colombus Ohio had its 2011 Zombie Walk this weekend, and as this video shows they seem to have it under control in the event of a zombie apocalypse.
Earlier in April, NASA invited a group of tweeters to join for the launch of its STS-134 mission to the International Space Station. That launch was delayed until April 29-29, and due to bad weather the shuttle never took off as planned. However, Trey Ratcliff did manage to capture the weather with one of his signature, beautiful photos, as you can see below. For more on the image, see Trey’s Stuck in Customs website.
National Geographic Adventure just released its “Gear of the Year, Spring 2011” roundup, a compendium of the best for the summer months in lightweight gear like tents and rain jackets, as well as cameras, packs, kayaks and more.
Looking to help those affected by from the recent tornadoes in the South? Good magazine has put together a list of resources, updated frequently.
Rock climbing is becoming more and more popular. Even in my current city of Chiang Mai, there’s a robust rock climbing club and plenty of karst to scramble up - with ropes, safety equipment and helmets. But what about free form rock climbing, with nothing at all? The video below from North Face, showing world famous free solo climber Alex Honnold casually climbing Yosemite’s Half-Dome (in a fun, green shirt no less) with no ropes, is pretty insane to watch.
This week, National Geographic also posted a great photo gallery of superclimbers, also pushing the limits at Yosemite National Park. Check out the incredible set of daredevil photos - you won’t regret it.
Speaking of incredible photos, this NASA image from the Earth Observatory shows a golden sunset over Bolivia, from Space. Taken by astronauts on the International Space Station, it’s a just beautiful. I can’t imagine being able to say goodnight to an entire continent from above, but this is the closest I’ll get:
Over on Intelligent Travel, the 2011 Traveler Photo Contest is up and running, with photos posted every few weeks. The competition is still open if any of you Hipmunks have travel photos to submit!
Have an iPad and like to travel with it? Matt Long from Landlopers did a service-y post on how to customize your shiny toy for travel, with screenshots and apps for download.
New York Times’ Frugal Traveler column posted a guide to navigating rental car fees. Given the many options, add-ons and fees when you rent a car, this is bound to come in handy.
And in my hometown of Montreal, a new exhibit at the Museum of Archeology commemorates Mr. Indiana Jones, archeologist extraordinaire. The exhibit runs through September 18 and includes an interactive tour, film accessories and archeological finds on loan from other museums.
This is a Hipmunk guest post from Jodi Ettenberg. Her views and opinions are hers alone and do not represent Hipmunk.
For this post-Easter weekend roundup, I wanted to share a few videos that caught my eye. The first is from Mattias Giraud, a French skiier who climbed out of bounds in the French Alps for some pristine powdered snow. He got a bit more than he bargained for when he got caught in an avalanche, all captured on film with a GoPro HD Helmet HERO camera. Matthias was quick to clarify that there were rescue teams watching at all times, including a helicopter. But he added “like any exposed line in the Alps, a fall means death. So, you don’t fall. And if you do, well it’s part of the game and you know that before going into it.”
Dizzying, first-person view of an off-piste trail between the ski resorts of Megeve and Les Contamines in the French Alps:
My brother sent this to me late last week, and as someone who has skydived (skydoven?) for years, I was mesmerized. But you don’t have to have jumped out of a plane to appreciate the ethereal beauty of this video. According to Vimeo user BettyWantsIn, a Melbourne-based design studio, post processing was used only to slow down the shots and correct color.
Experience skydiving without actually leaving your chair, thanks to these four Melbourne Skydive Centre skydivers, slowly floating toward the ground:
From the enthusiastic response to Terje Sorgjerd’s The Mountain timelapse posted on Friday, I thought I would include another one of his videos. In The Aurora, he filmed an incredible display of Northern Lights, from a vantage point in Pas National Park, Norway. Braving the -25C temperatures seem worth it in retrospect - what an awe-inspiring show.
Almost 2 minutes of shimmering green Northern Lights from the far reaches of Norway:
But the video below is a whole new way to see the Milky Way, and easily the most beautiful thing you’ll watch this week. Norwegian photographer Terje Sorgjerd set up his camera between the 4th and 11th of April atop Spain’s highest peak, El Teide mountain. At 3718m (12,198 ft) tall, it is one of the best places to photograph the stars, which is why the Teide Observatories are on its slopes.
Though he wanted to capture the Milky Way, a sandstorm swept through the Sahara on the 9th of April, clouding the sky from the summit. Instead of ruining the scene (as Sorgjerd initialy worried it would) the sandstorm produced some of the most beautiful, haunting and shimmering scenes in his film. Watch for it at 32 seconds in:
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