APOD: Sunset from the ISS (2010 Jun 23)

[APOD Robot]

Sunset from the International Space Station

Explanation: What are these strange color bands being seen from the International Space Station? The Sun setting through Earth's atmosphere. Pictured above, a sunset captured last month by the ISS's Expedition 23 crew shows in vivid detail many layers of the Earth's thin atmosphere. Part of the Earth experiencing night crosses the bottom of the image. Above that, appearing in deep orange and yellow, is the Earth's troposphere, which contains 80 percent of the atmosphere by mass and almost all of the clouds in the sky. Visible as a white band above the troposphere is the stratosphere, part of the Earth's atmosphere where airplanes fly and some hardy bacteria float. Above the stratosphere, visible as a light blue band, are higher and thinner atmospheric levels that gradually fade away into the cold dark vacuum of outer space. Sunset is not an uncommon sight for occupants of the International Space Station, because it can be seen as many as 16 times a day.

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[cocao2]

Which layer of the atmosphere is the ISS orbiting in?

[Chris Peterson]

Which layer of the atmosphere is the ISS orbiting in?

That would be the thermosphere.

[neufer]

Clearly the deep orange and yellow layer is the Earth's troposphere.

However the stratosphere is TWICE as thick as the troposphere
and thus cannot possibly be the thin white band!

Rather the stratosphere must be the thin white (cloud) band PLUS the blue band!

The white clouds are noctilucent clouds at the top of the stratosphere in the distant background
(and thus appearing to be closer clouds at the bottom of the stratosphere).

A more cloud free (and more exposed) image does show a white stratospheric layer of proper thickness:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100216.html
The light blue mesospheric band in this image corresponds to the faint blue mesospheric band in today's image.

[London Bassman]

Surely there is a layer missing? The blogoshpere ...

[neufer]

Surely there is a layer missing? The blogosphere ...

The Blagosphere is virtually impenetrable to all forms of light:

[Guest]

Which layer of the atmosphere is the ISS orbiting in?

That would be the thermosphere.

I didn't know the ISS orbited in the Thermosphere. I thought it was just outer space. huh, guess you learn something new everyday.

[Guest]

What an amazing sunset!!! Cool angle too! If you zoom in you can see the clouds, pretty neat.

[owlice]

Other places this image appears at Asterisk:

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 29&t=19814
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 29&t=19897 -- (you can vote for it here )

[HELP!]

I need some help here. My username is "moonstruck" but everytime I try to reply it tells me there is already someone with that user name and won't let me in. How do I fix that??

[geckzilla]

You have to login first before posting. If you just type your name in before the post you post as a guest. Here's a link to the login form http://asterisk.apod.com/ucp.php?mode=login

[orin stepanek]

Oh wouldn't it be nice to be an astronaut and see 16 sunsets every night? (night? would that be 16 nights every day?)

[RJN]

Clearly the deep orange and yellow layer is the Earth's troposphere.
However the stratosphere is TWICE as thick as the troposphere
and thus cannot possibly be the thin white band!

It seems possible to me that the orange band appears to extend more toward the observer, and so the relative widths of the atmospheric bands may be distorted from their physical thickness ratios. The link under "Pictured above" connects to a
spaceflight.nasa.gov page which gives information from which the APOD caption was taken.

- RJN

[moonstruck]

Thanks geckzilla, looks like it worked.
Where is the ionosphere amongest all this? I always flew my Cessna-150 down in that orange part

[neufer]

Clearly the deep orange and yellow layer is the Earth's troposphere.
However the stratosphere is TWICE as thick as the troposphere
and thus cannot possibly be the thin white band!

It seems possible to me that the orange band appears to extend more toward the observer, and so the relative widths of the atmospheric bands may be distorted from their physical thickness ratios. The link under "Pictured above" connects to a
spaceflight.nasa.gov page which gives information from which the APOD caption was taken.

I was a professional NOAA atmospheric physicist for 40 years and I stand by my objection...the white band is simply a distant noctilucent stratospheric cloud and it does NOT represent the true width of the blue stratosphere.

[RJN]

Art, OK. Thanks. I just changed the APOD text. When making a change like this, I try to change as few words as possible. Please see if the new wording is acceptable to you. - RJN

[neufer]

Art, OK. Thanks. I just changed the APOD text. When making a change like this, I try to change as few words as possible. Please see if the new wording is acceptable to you. - RJN

The APOD text is now fine but the overlay captions haven't changed.

If you could make your "upper atmosphere" => "stratosphere"
and your "stratosphere" => "notilucent cloud"

then I'd be pleased as punch.

[owlice]

As pleased as Punch
Meaning

Very pleased.

Origin

From the Punch and Judy puppet character. Punch's name derives from Polichinello (spelled various ways, including Punchinello), an Italian puppet with similar characteristics. In Punch and Judy performances the grotesque Punch character is depicted as self-satisfied and pleased with his evil deeds.

Punch and Judy shows are popular summer-time entertainments in Britain. They have been somewhat in decline during the latter half of the 20th and into the 21st centuries, due to them being seen as politically incorrect. That's hardly surprising as the main character Punch is a baby-murdering wife-beater.

There are numerous 'as X as Y' phrases in English - at least 300 are in common use. They invariably compare some characteristic with something that is well-known as exhibiting the same. For example, 'As safe as the Bank of England', 'as white as snow'. Why Punch is seen as synonymous with pleasure or pride is due to the show's storyline which has him calling out "that's the way to do it" in a gleeful voice each time he murders another victim.

Nevertheless, there is still what might be called a folk affection for the old rogue in the UK and it would be a shame to see the tradition fade away completely.

The show had an Italian origin and has been much changed over the years. It began in Britain at the time of the restoration of the monarchy in the 17th century. Samuel Pepys' Diary has an entry from 1666 that shows this early origin and also the popularity of the show even then:

"I with my wife... by coach to Moorefields, and there saw ‘Polichinello’, which pleases me mightily."

The phrase 'as pleased as Punch' appears fairly late in the story. The earliest known record is from Thomas Moore's Letters to Lady Donegal, 1813:

"I was (as the poet says) as pleased as Punch."

[neufer]

As pleased as Punch: From the Punch and Judy puppet character. Punch's name derives from Polichinello (spelled various ways, including Punchinello), an Italian puppet with similar characteristics. In Punch and Judy performances the grotesque Punch character is depicted as self-satisfied and pleased with his evil deeds. Punch and Judy shows are popular summer-time entertainments in Britain. They have been somewhat in decline during the latter half of the 20th and into the 21st centuries, due to them being seen as politically incorrect. That's hardly surprising as the main character Punch is a baby-murdering wife-beater.

I was acquitted.

[Guest]

Oh wouldn't it be nice to be an astronaut and see 16 sunsets every night? (night? would that be 16 nights every day?)

Haha yeah, 16 days in 1 day!!! ah so cool! haha That'd be totally wicked awesome

Hannah

[zbvhs]

The layers shown appear to me to be misidentified. The dark edge beginning at the right is the Earth's limb. The gray/white layer is the troposphere with clouds and the blue layer is the stratosphere. The orange stuff is sunlight reflected off or transmitted through clouds nearer the observer below the actual horizon.

[neufer]

The layers shown appear to me to be misidentified. The dark edge beginning at the right is the Earth's limb. The gray/white layer is the troposphere with clouds and the blue layer is the stratosphere.

The gray/white layer are distant summertime polar mesospheric noctilucent clouds.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050619.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090624.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071028.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070705.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090711.html

[zbvhs]

Alright, let me try again. Looking at the right-hand side of the picture: Coming down from the top you have the blue band, the gray/white band, and an elongated triangular black shape. What is the black shape? If the white shapes in the gray/white band are noctilucent clouds, they should be at the very top edge of the stratosphere, not embedded in it, should they not?

[neufer]

Alright, let me try again. Looking at the right-hand side of the picture: Coming down from the top you have the blue band, the gray/white band, and an elongated triangular black shape. What is the black shape? If the white shapes in the gray/white band are noctilucent clouds, they should be at the very top edge of the stratosphere, not embedded in it, should they not?

A limb view of the earth sees:

• 1) foreground
  2) limb and
  3) background objects.

Foreground and background objects appear to be lower in the sky than corresponding limb objects.

• 1) White clouds are distant background mesospheric noctilucent clouds in full sunlight
  
  2) Red clouds are background tropospheric clouds in sunset sunlight.
  
  3) Black clouds are foreground tropospheric clouds in the dark.