Watch: Leonardo DiCaprio Calls To End Climate Change In Oscar Acceptance Speech.

M45, The Pleiades Star Cluster

T-2 hours - JASON-3 and Falcon 9 stand tall on the west coast. For the second time in its history, a SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket stands at Vandenberg Air Force Base’s SLC-4E ready for launch. The 224 foot tall rocket will carry the joint NASA/NOAA JASON-3 satellite to study Earth’s oceans. Of the 20 flights of the Falcon 9 to date, all but one has occurred from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40. The inaugural flight of Falcon 9 v1.1, Cassiope in September 2013, was also the debut of the vehicle on the west coast. The JASON-3 mission will see the final v1.1 Falcon 9 performing the vehicle’s second west coast flight. Liftoff will occur in the middle of a 30-second launch window, at 1:42 pm EST (10:42 am PST). NASA TV coverage started at 11 am EST. Watch the launch live here. p/c: SpaceX/NASA

WHOA look at the moon

me literally every night no matter what phase the moon is in (via purple-space-freak)

Thankful for views like this one —————————————– Camera Info •Canon 5D Mk3 •Canon 16-35mm F2.8 •16mm •F2.8 Aperture •30" Exposure •6400 ISO •WB3785 —————————————–#justinhartney #nature #pnwwonderland #nightphotography #ThatPNWLife #Ourlonelyplanet #traveloregon #eugene #universityoforegon #uoregon #feedbacknation #thatNWadventure #wildernessculture #modernoutdoors #watchthisinstagood #folkmagazine #theearthoutdoors #thevisualcollective #oregonexplored #beautifuldestinations #nwc10k #vsco #wishyouwerenorthwest #visitbend #1859Oregon #canon_photos #llbeanmoment #bendmag #optoutside #columbia1938 (at Bend, Oregon)

The Hubble Space telescope just sent back a new photo of the Twin Jet Nebula. Here’s what it looked like in 1997:

And now …

Whoa. But wait, we also got an updated image of the merging galaxies NGC 6240. What it looked like in 2008:

And today:

Science, you’re the best. Oh, and the explanation behind those merging galaxies and their black holes is wild.

Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars

Image Credit: Viking Project, USGS, NASA

The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars. Named Valles Marineris, the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth’s Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across, and 1.8 kilometers deep. The origin of the Valles Marineris remains unknown, although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled. Several geologic processes have been identified in the canyon. The above mosaic was created from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s.

Colors of Earth

When we think of our globe from a distance, we generally visualize two colors: blue and green. Water and land. Mostly water, consequently, our planet’s nickname of the blue marble.

Traveling around the globe every 90 minutes covering millions of miles with a focused lens on our beautiful planet from 250 miles above, I’ve captured many beautiful colors beyond blue and green that showcase Earth in new and interesting ways. Some colors are indicative of nature like desert sands and weather like snow. Other colors tell stories of Earth’s climate in bright splashes of yellows and greens of pollen and muted grey tones and clouded filters of pollution.

Blue and green still remain vivid and beautiful colors on Earth from the vantage point of the International Space Station, but here are some other colors that have caught my eye from my orbital perspective.

African violet

Bahamas blues

Tropical in Africa

Yellow desert

Orange in Egypt

Red surprise 

Snow white 

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