10 October 2026
Kish from orbit
True colour, from the MODIS instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite.
NASA Worldview / GIBS
The Persian Gulf by day
The whole Persian Gulf in one pass, with the coastlines drawn on.
NASA Worldview / GIBS
The Persian Gulf at night
VIIRS is sensitive enough to image city light: this is the region drawn by where people are.
NASA Worldview / GIBS
NASA Science
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Tidally locked in synchronous rotation, the Moon always presents its familiar nearside to denizens of planet Earth. From lunar orbit, the Moon's farside can become familiar, though. In fact this sharp picture, a mosaic from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide angle camera, is centered on the lunar farside. Part of a global mosaic of over 15,000 images acquired between November 2009 and February 2011, the highest resolution version shows features at a scale of 100 meters per pixel. Surprisingly, the rough and battered surface of the farside looks very different from the nearside covered with smooth dark lunar maria. A likely explanation is that the farside crust is thicker, making it harder for molten material from the interior to flow to the surface and form dark, smooth maria.Tomorrow's picture: Sunday's Childe
This explanation is in English; it has not been translated.
NASA APOD