The Chinese FY-2D satellite captured an image of what appears to be an east-west vapor plume in the atmosphere, likely from the meteor that streaked over Chelyabinsk, Russia. The image was first posted by the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. I’ve cropped and enhanced it to emphasize the plume.
Since the Chelyabinsk meteorite streaked across the Russian sky, shattering windows in its wake and sending a thousand people to the hospital, I’ve been wondering how many satellites captured its passage.
I pulled the image into one of my image editing applications (Aperture), cropped it, and enhanced it to bring out the vapor plume created by the meteorite as it hurtled through the atmosphere. The image above is the result. (With apologies to the awesome folks at CIMSS if I’ve somehow sullied the original image!)
ImaGeo is a visual blog focusing on the intersection of imagery, imagination and Earth. It focuses on spectacular visuals related to the science of our planet, with an emphasis (although not an exclusive one) on the unfolding Anthropocene Epoch.
About Tom Yulsman
Tom Yulsman is co-director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado, and a science and environmental journalist with more than 30 years of experience producing content for major publications. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Audubon, Climate Central, Columbia Journalism Review, Discover, Nieman Reports, and many other publications. He has held a variety of editorial positions over the years, including a stint as editor-in-chief of Earth magazine. Yulsman has written one book: Origins: the Quest for Our Cosmic Roots, published by the Institute of Physics in 2003.
