NASA. LARGE FORMAT. A superb and rare photographic tableau s - Lot 166

NASA. LARGE FORMAT. A superb and rare photographic tableau showing a particularly exceptional view of Earth's limbo captured by the crew of space shuttle ENDEAVOUR (Mission STS-047). The colors of this photograph give an idea of the relative density of the atmosphere. The crew have had many opportunities to witness sunrises and sunsets, as they orbit the Earth every 90 minutes, but few, in their opinion, compare with this scene. It captures the silhouette of several mature thunderstorms whose anvil-like cirrus tops spread out against the tropopause (the top of the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere) at sunset. The lowest layer (troposphere) is the densest and refracts light at the red end of the visible spectrum (7,400 angstroms), while the blues (4,000 angstroms) are separated in the least dense part of the atmosphere (middle and upper atmosphere, or stratosphere and mesosphere). Several layers of blue are visible. The NASA scientists who studied the photos believe that this stratification is due to the scattering of light by particles trapped in the stratosphere and mesosphere, which generally originate from volcanic eruptions, such as those from Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines and, more recently, Mount Spurr in Alaska. A truly exceptional photograph! 1992. Vintage chromogenic print. Numbering in the margin on the front. Label on back. 40.6 x 40.6 cm with margins.