January Gallery

Earths limb, Jupiter & crescent moon

Airglow. View from Shuttle Endeavour showing the Earth's airglow. The white point near centre is the planet Jupiter, above this is the crescent Moon. The airglow phenomenon is seen when looking toward the Sun before dawn or after sunset in orbit. Different layers of the atmosphere may be seen. The ragged appearance of the limb is caused by silhouetted cirrus clouds. Above this is a red layer of highly-refracted light. The darker layer is composed of dust particles from volcanic events, such as the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991. Above this is a weakly refracting blue layer of the upper atmosphere. This photograph was taken during Mission STS-61 of 2-13 December 1993

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY