APOD: Home from Above (2010 Nov 15)

[APOD Robot]

Home from Above

Explanation: There's no place like home. Peering out of the windows of the International Space Station (ISS), astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson takes in the planet on which we were all born, and to which she would soon return. About 350 kilometers up, the ISS is high enough so that the Earth's horizon appears clearly curved. Astronaut Dyson's windows show some of Earth's complex clouds, in white, and life giving atmosphere and oceans, in blue. The space station orbits the Earth about once every 90 minutes. It is not difficult for people living below to look back toward the ISS. The ISS can frequently be seen as a bright point of light drifting overhead just after sunset. Telescopes can even resolve the overall structure of the space station. The above image was taken in late September from the ISS's Cupola window bay. Dr. Dyson is a lead vocalist in the band Max Q.

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[jduffy]

I think it's the Pacific Ocean

[Gralstin]

I think Pacific Ocean too -its the largest on the planet and all you can see is water.

[KeeofEff]

Yep, it's gotta be the Pacific Ocean

[Albatross]

Could be any very large body of water. Pacific, Atlantic, or Indian ocean...

[talismanic]

Indian Ocean, south of Madagascar

[Genbug]

Home from above - it's the Gulf of Mexico

[Ann]

It's a fantastic image. It speaks of achievements that humanity only a hundred years ago could only dream of - humans actually orbiting the Earth, looking down on this amazing planet from a height of about 350 kilometers.

But at the same time, this image speaks of how closely bound we humans are to the Earth. Yes, we have travelled 350 kilometers away from the surface of the Earth, and we have travelled even farther - humans have, after all, walked on the Moon. But the distance to the Moon, while more than a thousand times greater than the distance to the International Space Station, is still only about 450,000 kilometers. In the universe, where most distances have to be measured in lightyears or better yet, in kiloparsecs or megaparsecs, 450,000 kilometers is nothing.

I once saw a black and white movie that may have been from the early forties. Here some brave humans were struggling heroically to make their spaceship overcome the Earth's gravity. But once they had climbed out of the Earth's gravity well, the universe was literally theirs for the taking. They could go anywhere, to Mars, to Saturn, to Sirius, because they were no longer bound by the Earth's gravity.

But that is not how it works. We are so incredibly bound to the Earth, this little blue speck in the universe that sustains us, and that hosts all the life that we know of.

Ann

[Benibouftou]

I think it's south Pacific ocean. At upper left , perhaps we could see West cost of CHILI ......

[Guest]

If you take the Exif info of the picture then you can see it was taken om 2010-09-11, 18:38:35. Now if we know the timezone of the camera then we know the position of ISS and thus the part of the earth we can see.

Nyh

[ovidiu_c]

So blue ... so beautiful ...
I guess is Atlantic Ocean with a view to Bahamas Islands and Cuba or Haiti.

[sraddhanjali@live.com]

i really don't know but by logic,i wil go for pacific ocean!:') i just wanted to reply...

[mjsfish]

Could the small bay visible in the lower window be San Francisco Bay. That is my Guess. It is hard to differentiate the clouds from snow capped mountains.

[rimbaud3000]

I also thought it was The Pacific.
On a loosely related matter - doesn't Tracy Caldwell Dyson look a bit like Sigourney Weaver in that photo?
I find this both disconcerting and inspiring at the same time.
Disconcerting in a facile, stupid way because of the fear the Alien films created in me when I was younger.
Inspiring because not only do they both represent the strength and courage of women astronauts, they are linked by our desire to explore space.
We are at the beginning of a journey that will hopefully take us to the stars. Who knows where the endeavours of the intrepid inhabitants of the ISS will eventually take us?
Incredible photo. Gave me goosebumps. Take me there please!

[Wiebster]

If i look at the clouds, it looks like the "boot" of Italy?

[martini]

Woman always thinks whether she unplugged the ironer!

[GETDAM]

DID ANYONE NOTICE THAT IF YOU LOOK AT THE ENLARGED VIEW OF THIS APOD AND OUT THE RIGHT TOP VIEW PORT
AND WAY DOWN AT JUST ABOVE THE CLOUDS; YOU CAN MAKE OUT WHAT APPEARS TO BE A LARGE HOT-AIR OR
WEATHER BALLOON. POSSIBLY ORANGE OR RED. IF IT IS A BALLOON OF SORTS SOME 340 OR SO MILES DOWN; THEN
THAT IS ONE BIG BALLOON.

[Star*Hopper]

I also thought Indian Ocean at first.....but remember, ISS views don't necessarily coincide with our normal 'north up map' perspective -- in fact that view is likely fairly rare for the 'nauts.

Leftmost window, just inside left edge about halfway between window bottom & where the side intersects the picture's left margin....looks like the Florida peninsula to me. Ergo.......Hail, Atlanti(c)!

Clear'ns!
~S*H

[Flatpackhamster]

@Getdam: I'd guess that red spot you can see is a star, not a balloon.

[wcorvi]

If the altitude is 350 km, then the horizon is 2141 km away, or 1338 mi. I don't see anything but clouds and water in the picture; it could be any of the oceans. There are not even any shadows, so the sun is high in the sky - in September, that means near the equator, but that doesn't tell much.

[Jack Bryant]

Who cares? It's all beautiful beyond belief.

[pen25b]

visible are Himalayas & Indian Ocean

[lettush]

I believe the ISS is travelling NNW to SSE over the Philipine Sea, and, if it is, the land mass in top left window are the Philipines and Papua New Guinea. But I might be wrong!

[wistex70-fel@yahoo.com]

The round part of the cupola shows the clouds and very faint landmass of Texas, Mexico with Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico. Nick.

[Rms]

Hawaï...