Saturn's Dreamy Swirls | NASA Cassini Mission

Sept. 13, 2017: NASA's Cassini spacecraft gazed toward the northern hemisphere of Saturn to spy subtle, multi-hued bands in the clouds there. This view looks toward the terminator—the dividing line between night and day—at lower left. The sun shines at low angles along this boundary, in places highlighting vertical structure in the clouds. Some vertical relief is apparent in this view, with higher clouds casting shadows over those at lower altitude.

Images taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural-color view. The images were acquired on Aug. 31, 2017, at a distance of approximately 700,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is about 4 miles (6 kilometers) per pixel.

The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and https://www.nasa.gov/cassini. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at https://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Release Date: September 13, 2017

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The Saturn System Through the Eyes of Cassini | NASA

Free 110-Page e-Book: The Cassini-Huygens mission has revolutionized our knowledge of the Saturn system and revealed surprising places in the solar system where life could potentially gain a foothold—bodies we call ocean worlds.
eBook Download Page [All Formats]:
http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/the-saturn-system.html

Since its arrival in 2004, Cassini–Huygens has been nothing short of a discovery machine, captivating us with data and images never before obtained with such detail and clarity. Cassini taught us that Saturn is a far cry from a tranquil lone planet with delicate rings. Now, we know more about Saturn’s chaotic, active, and powerful rings, and the storms that rage beneath. Images and data from Saturn’s moons Titan and Enceladus hint at the possibility of life never before suspected. The rings of Saturn, its moons, and the planet itself offer irresistible and inexhaustible subjects for intense study. As the Cassini mission comes to a dramatic end with a fateful plunge into Saturn on Sept. 15, 2017, scientists are already dreaming of going back for further study.

Over a period of 13 years, Cassini has captured about 450,000 spectacular images within the Saturn system, providing new views of the “lord of the rings” and a plethora of iconic images. To honor the art and science of Cassini, this book was developed collaboratively by a team from NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD), NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI). While these images represent the tip of the iceberg—each telling a story about Saturn and its mysterious moons—our hope is that the mission will inspire future artists and explorers. The sheer beauty of these images is surpassed only by the science and discoveries they represent.

› iBooks: The Saturn System [37 MB]:
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Credit: NASA
Release Date: September 12, 2017
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New Soyuz Crew Launches to International Space Station

Expedition 53-54 Soyuz Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and flight engineers Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA launched on the Russian Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft Sept. 13 (Kazakhstan time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio began a six-hour journey to the International Space Station and the start of a five-and-a-half month mission on the outpost.

Credit: NASA TV
Duration: 11 minutes
Release Date: September 12, 2017

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Expedition 53 Soyuz Launch

The Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with Expedition 50 crewmembers Joe Acaba of NASA, Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, and Mark Vande Hei of NASA from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, (Kazakh time) (Sept. 12, U.S. time). Acaba, Misurkin, and Vande Hei will spend approximately five and half months on the International Space Station.

The crew will orbit Earth four times en route to the spacecraft’s arrival and docking to the space station, at 10:57 p.m. Tune in at 10:15 p.m. to NASA Television or the agency’s website to watch the docking live.

This crew marks the first long-term increase in crew size on the U.S. segment from three to four, allowing NASA to maximize time dedicated to research on the International Space Station. Highlights of upcoming investigations include demonstrating the benefits of manufacturing fiber optic filaments in a microgravity environment, a new study looking to slow or reverse muscle atrophy in astronauts during spaceflight and exploring the ability of a synthetic bone material capable of adhering bone to metal within minutes to accelerate bone repair.

For live coverage and more information about the mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/station

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Release Date: September 12, 2017
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Expedition 53 Crew Waves Farewell

Expedition 53 flight engineer Mark Vande Hei of NASA, top, flight engineer Joe Acaba of NASA, and Soyuz Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, bottom, wave farewell before boarding their Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, (Kazakh time) (Sept. 12, U.S. time). Acaba, Misurkin, and Vande Hei will spend approximately five and half months on the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Release Date: September 12, 2017

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Sun Erupts With Significant Solar Flare | NASA SDO

via GIPHY
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of a solar flare—as seen in the bright flash on the right side—on Sept. 10, 2017. Sept. 11, 2017: The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10, 2017. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured images of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however—when intense enough—they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings. This flare is classified as an X8.2-class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. This flare is the capstone on a series of flares from Active Region 2673, which was identified on Aug. 29 and is currently rotating off the front of the sun as part of our star’s normal rotation. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured images of the events. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

Credit: NASA/SDO/Goddard
Image Date: September 10, 2017
Release Date: September 11, 2017


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Sun Erupts With Significant Solar Flare | NASA SDO

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare—as seen in the bright flash on the right side—on Sept. 10, 2017. The image shows a combination of wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, which has then been colorized.
Sept. 11, 2017: The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10, 2017. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however—when intense enough—they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.

This flare is classified as an X8.2-class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc.

This flare is the capstone on a series of flares from Active Region 2673, which was identified on Aug. 29 and is currently rotating off the front of the sun as part of our star’s normal rotation.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured images of the events. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

Credit: NASA/SDO/Goddard
Image Date: September 10, 2017
Release Date: September 11, 2017
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Hurricane Irma Strikes Florida | NASA Earth

After battering Cuba and several Caribbean islands for most of a week as it crept slowly northwestward, Hurricane Irma turned north into Florida on September 10, 2017. Heavy rain and hurricane-force winds battered both the east and west coasts of southern Florida, even though the eye of the monstrous storm made landfall in the southwestern part of the state. Seas were rising with storm surges as far north as Charleston, South Carolina.

Hurricane Irma made its first U.S. landfall on Cudjoe Key, Florida, about 30 miles east of Key West, around 9 a.m. on September 10. The storm was rated as a category 4, with sustained winds of 130 miles per hour at the time. It made its second landfall at Marco Island around 3:30 p.m. with similarly potent winds.

At 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the National Hurricane Center reported that Irma was over Naples, Florida, bringing sustained winds of 110 miles (180 kilometer) per hour, with gusts to 140 miles per hour. Hurricane-force winds extended 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the center of the storm; tropical storm winds stretched at least 220 miles (350 kilometers), wider than the state from west to east. The storm was moving north at 14 miles (22 kilometers) per hour. It was expected to hug the west coast of Florida through Monday morning.

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 13 (GOES-13) acquired data for this composite image at 8:15 a.m. on September 10 as the storm was passing over the Florida Keys. Infrared data (band 4) is overlaid on a MODIS blue marble. The satellite is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while NASA helps develop and launch the GOES series of satellites.

Though much popular interest focuses on the winds and rain of a hurricane, storm surges are often the most deadly part of such an event. National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters warned of dangerous storm surges from the Florida Keys to Tampa Bay. Forecasters predicted waters as high as 10 feet (3 meters) above normal in places. The western shore is known for its relatively shallow coastal waters, and many neighborhoods are carved into lagoons and canals near the shore. “This is a life-threatening situation,” NWS declared.

Irma has been churning at hurricane force since August 31, and it has been a major hurricane—category 3 or above—for nearly all of that time.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using data from the NASA-NOAA GOES project
Story Credit: Mike Carlowicz
Image Date: September 10, 2017
Release Date: September 11, 2017

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Major Solar Flare | NASA SDO

A large sunspot was the source of a powerful solar flare (an X 9.3) and a coronal mass ejection (Sept. 6, 2017). The flare was the largest solar flare of the last decade. For one thing, it created a strong shortwave radio blackout over Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. Sunspot 2673 has been also the source of several other smaller to medium-sized solar flares over the past few days. Data from the SOHO spacecraft shows the large cloud of particles blasting into space just after the flare.

Note: the bright vertical line and the other rays with barred lines are aberrations in our instruments caused by the bright flash of the flare.

Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA
Image Date: September 6, 2017
Release Date: September 11, 2017

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Satellite Sees Category 4 Hurricanes Irma and Jose, Katia Landfall

This animation of NOAA's GOES East satellite imagery from Sept. 6 at 9:45 a.m. EDT (1345 UTC) to Sept. 9 ending at 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 UTC) shows Category 4 Hurricane Irma approaching south Florida and Category 4 Hurricane Jose approach the northern Leeward Islands. Meanwhile, Hurricane Storm Katia made landfall and dissipated in eastern Mexico.

Credit: NASA-NOAA GOES Project
Duration: 36 seconds
Release Date: September 9, 2017

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NASA Sees Hurricane Irma's Eye Along Cuba's Coast

This visible image of Category 4 Hurricane Irma was taken on Saturday, September 9, 2017 at 10:37 a.m. EDT (1437 UTC) by the NOAA GOES East satellite.

Warnings and Watches

At 11 a.m. EDT the National Hurricane Center noted many warnings and watches in effect.

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for Volusia/Brevard County line southward around the Florida peninsula to the Suwanee River, the Florida Keys and Tampa Bay. A Storm Surge Watch is in effect from north of the Volusia/Brevard County line to the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, and north of the Suwanee River to Ochlockonee River.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Fernandina Beach southward around the Florida peninsula to the Aucilla River, the Florida Keys, Lake Okeechobee, Florida Bay. A Hurricane Warning is also in effect for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara, Matanzas, and Havana, Andros Island, Bimini and Grand Bahama. A Hurricane Watch is in effect from north of Fernandina Beach to Edisto Beach, west of the Aucilla River to Indian Pass, Florida. A Hurricane Watch is also in effect for the Cuban provinces of Holguin and Las Tunas.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Cuban provinces of Holguin, Las Tunas, and a Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from north of Edisto Beach to South Santee River and west of Indian Pass to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line.

Hurricane Irma at 11 a.m. EDT on Saturday, September 9, 2017

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Irma was located by a reconnaissance plane and radar near latitude 22.8 North, longitude 79.8 West. Irma is moving toward the west along the north coast of Cuba at near 9 mph (15 km/h). A northwest motion is expected to begin later today with a turn toward the north-northwest on Sunday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 125 mph (205 km/h) with higher gusts. Irma is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Irma is forecast to re-strengthen once it moves away from Cuba, and Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane as it approaches Florida. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 195 miles (315 km). The minimum central pressure reported by an Air Force plane was 941 millibars.

On the forecast track, the core of Irma will continue to move near or over the north coast of Cuba later today, and will reach the Florida Keys Sunday morning. The hurricane is expected to move along or near the southwest coast of Florida Sunday afternoon.

For updates on Irma and effects of wind, storm surge and rainfall, visit the National Hurricane Center website: www.nhc.noaa.gov.

Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project
Release Date: September 9, 2017

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Hurricane Irma nears South Florida | NASA-NOAA GOES-16 Satellite

The NOAA-NASA satellite GOES-16 captured this geocolor image of Hurricane Irma passing the eastern end of Cuba at about 8:00 a.m. EDT on Sept. 8, 2017. Forecasters say the eye of Irma should move near the north coast of Cuba and the central Bahamas on Friday, Sept. 8 and Saturday, Sept. 9, and be near the Florida Keys and the southern Florida Peninsula Sunday morning. Irma, now a category 4 storm, has maximum sustained winds near 155 mph with higher gusts as of 2 p.m. EDT on Sept. 8. Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Irma is forecast to remain a powerful category 4 hurricane as it approaches Florida.

Created by NOAA's partners at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, the experimental geocolor imagery enhancement shown here displays geostationary satellite data in different ways depending on whether it is day or night. This image, captured as daylight moves into the area, offers a blend of both, with nighttime features on the left side of the image and daytime on the right. In nighttime imagery, liquid water clouds appear in shades of blue, ice clouds are grayish-white, water looks black, and land appears gray. (The city lights are a static background created with VIIRS Day/Night Band imagery. It does not show any existing power outages.) In daytime imagery, land and shallow-water features appear as they do in true-color imagery.

Image Credit: NOAA/CIRA
Caption: NOAA
Image Date: September 8, 2017

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Hurricane Irma over Cuba | NASA Earth

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a natural-color image of Irma (below) at 10:00 a.m. local time (16:00 Universal Time) on September 8, 2017.

The NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center remarked on the storm’s “buzzsaw appearance.” The National Weather Service field office in Miami warned of “large airborne projectiles” and cautioned that some locations may be “uninhabitable for weeks or months” after the storm. Eric Blake, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center, simply tweeted that he had “never seen anything like this in the modern record” and that the forecast made him “sick to his stomach.”

In some respects, Irma is an unusual and record-breaking storm. On September 8, the storm had generated more accumulated cyclone energy—a term meteorologists use to describe the destructive potential of a hurricane—than any other Atlantic storm on record, according to meteorologist Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University. Irma also broke a record for generating the most accumulated cyclone energy in a 24-hour period.

“Our human assets and aircraft penetrations are critical but limited,” said Marshall Shepherd, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Georgia. “Satellites provide a unique perspective on clouds, rainfall, sea surface state, sea surface temperature, and more. Only the satellite vantage point can provide continuous coverage of all three storms without having to refuel or sleep.”

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image via Terra MODIS data from the Land Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE)
Story Credit: Adam Voiland
Instrument: Terra - MODIS
Image Date: September 8, 2017
Release Date: September 9, 2017

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Florida: Potential Storm Surge | National Weather Service

Storm surge flooding of 10-15 feet is now expected along the southwest Florida coast. This is a dire and life-threatening situation.
Looking for information on Storm Surge? 

Check out the NWS potential storm surge flooding map:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/095407.shtml?inundation#contents

Storm surge: a rising of the sea as a result of atmospheric pressure changes and wind associated with a storm.

For updated forecasts, visit: www.nhc.noaa.gov.

Credit: National Weather Service (NWS)/NOAA
Release Date: September 9, 2017

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A Menacing Line of Hurricanes | NASA Earth

Meteorologists struggled to find the right words to describe the situation as a line of three hurricanes—two of them major and all of them threatening land—brewed in the Atlantic basin in September 2017.

Forecasters were most concerned about Irma, which was on track to make landfall in densely populated South Florida on September 10 as a large category 4 storm. Meanwhile, category 2 Hurricane Katia was headed for Mexico, where it was expected to make landfall on September 9. And just days after Irma devastated the Leeward Islands, the chain of small Caribbean islands braced for another blow—this time from category 4 Hurricane Jose.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured the data for a mosaic of Katia, Irma, and Jose as they appeared in the early hours of September 8, 2017. The images were acquired by the VIIRS “day-night band,” which detects light signals in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared, and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight. In this case, the clouds were lit by the nearly full Moon. The image is a composite, showing cloud imagery combined with data on city lights.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens and Jesse Allen, using VIIRS day-night band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership
Story Credit: Adam Voiland
Release Date: September 9, 2017

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Three Hurricanes in the Atlantic | NASA Earth

There was no shortage of storms brewing across the Atlantic basin in September 2017. On September 6, hurricanes Katia, Irma, and Jose lined up across the basin. The trio is visible in this image, captured that day by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite. The image is a mosaic, assembled from images acquired throughout the day during several orbits of the satellite.

On September 6, Katia had strengthened over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and was upgraded from tropical storm to hurricane status. The eye of Irma, a raging category 5 storm, passed north of Puerto Rico but still delivered strong winds and rain the Caribbean island. Meanwhile, Jose spun in the central Atlantic Ocean, and was also upgraded that day from a tropical storm to hurricane.

The bright strips are reflected sunlight, or “glint,” which show up over ocean areas in the middle of each orbit.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using VIIRS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response
Caption Credit: Kathryn Hansen
Instrument: Suomi NPP - VIIRS
Release Date: September 8, 2017

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