Astronomy Picture of the Day
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2014 May 14
A Live View from the International Space Station
Credit:
NASA,
UStream,
HDEV Project
Explanation:
If you were floating above the Earth right now, this is what you might see.
Two weeks ago, the robotic
SpaceX
Dragon capsule
that delivered supplies to the Earth-orbiting
International Space Station (ISS) also delivered
High Definition Earth Viewing
(HDEV) cameras that take and transmit live views of Earth.
Pictured above,
when working, is the live video feed that switches between four cameras, each pointed differently.
Watch white clouds, tan land, and
blue oceans drift by.
The
above video
will appear black when it is
nighttime on the Earth below,
but the space station's
rapid 90-minute orbit
compresses this dark time into only 45 minutes.
The present location of the ISS above the Earth can be found
on the web.
If the video appears gray, this indicates that the view is either being
switched between cameras, or communications with the ISS is temporarily
unavailable.
As the
HDEV project
continues, video quality will be monitored to assess the effects of
high energy radiation, which types of cameras work best, and which
Earth views are the most popular.
Although
this feed will eventually be terminated,
lessons learned will enable better cameras to be deployed to the ISS in the future,
likely returning even more interesting live feeds.
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(
MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (
UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
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A service of:
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NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
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