"The living history of the Earth jumps out at you through buckles,
folds,
giant fans,"
wrote astronaut Nick Hague (@astrohague)
about his photo of the "Eye of the Sahara"
from the International Space Station (@ISS).
Scroll through for more images of this striking geologic feature,
the Richat Structure of Mauritania,
captured by astronauts on the station and @NASAEarth satellites.
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Located in the Sahara Desert,
it measures 28 miles (45 kilometers)
across and is made up of igneous and sedimentary rocks.
It's thought to be caused by an uplifted dome that has been eroded to expose the originally flat rock layers.⁣
⁣ #mauritania #sahara #desert #richatstructure #geology #earthart #spaceart⁣
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1)
Photograph taken from the International Space Station,
Sept.
2019.
The image has been enhanced to improve contrast.

Image Credit:
NASA⁣
2)
ASTER Mission image from Oct.
7,
2000.
Image Credit:
NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team⁣
3)
Landsat satellite image draped over an elevation model produced by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM);
February 2000 (SRTM),
January 13,
1987 (Landsat).
Image Credit:
SRTM Team NASA/JPL/NIMA⁣
4)
Landsat-7 satellite image from Jan.
11,
2001.
Image Credit:
NASA/U.S.
Geological Survey/Landsat-7/Goddard Space Flight Center⁣
5)
Photograph taken from the International Space Station,
Dec.
17,
2011.
Image Credit:
NASA

Cloud formations over the Pacific!
⁣⁣☁️☁️☁️
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An astronaut on the @ISS took this photo on April 4,
2019,
while the station was traveling near the southernmost reaches of its orbit over the South Pacific Ocean.
The striking colors within the cloud formation are a result of the local sunrise.
When the Sun is at a low angle (relative to the atmosphere and the space station),
sunlight passes through a thicker slice of the atmosphere.
This can enhance the red end of the visible color spectrum,
leading to the pink hues visible at the center of the image.
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The astronaut who took this photograph sent a message to ask if this specific cloud formation had been a named tropical cyclone.
However,
because the weather system was short-lived,
the storm dissipated before making landfall,
and thus was not named.
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Image Credit:
NASA⁣
⁣⁣ #clouds #spacestation #weather #nasa #astronautphotographs #cloudformations

Saturn is so beautiful that astronomers cannot resist using the @NASAHubble Space Telescope to take yearly snapshots of the ringed world when it is at its closest distance to Earth.
😍⁣
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This image,
however,
is more than just a beauty shot.
It reveals exquisite details of the planet as a part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy project to help scientists understand the atmospheric dynamics of our solar system's gas giants.⁣
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Click the link in the bio for more info ⬆️⁣
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Image Credit:
NASA,
ESA,
A.
Simon (GSFC),
M.H.
Wong (University of California,
Berkeley)
and the OPAL Team⁣
⁣ #NASA #Saturn #Space