This image is a montage of high resolutions photographs of the Earth taken in January 2012 by the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite. The image shows many stunning details of <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/earth.html">our home planet</a> - <a href="http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/VIIRS_4Jan2012.jpg">particularly at high resolution</a>. The beauty of our planet is obvious from space - our blue <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/overview.html">waters</a>, our white <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a>, and the green from <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Life/life.html">life</a> abundant at the surface.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>Lunar eclipses are special events that only occur when certain conditions are met. First of all, the Moon must be in <a href="/the_universe/uts/moon3.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">full phase</a>. Secondly, the <a href="/sun/sun.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Sun</a>, <a href="/earth/earth.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Earth</a> and <a href="/earth/moons_and_rings.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Moon</a> must be in a perfectly straight line. If both of these are met, then the Earth's shadow can block the Sun's light from hitting the Moon. The reddish glow of the Moon is caused by light from the Earth's limb scattering toward the Moon, which is reflected back to us from the Moon's surface.<p><small><em>Image credit - Doug Murray, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida</em></small></p>A near-Earth <a href="/our_solar_system/asteroids.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">asteroid</a> - named 2012 DA14 by astronomers - passed within 17,200 miles from Earth on February 15, 2013. On closest approach at about 1:25 p.m. CST on February 15, although it was within the orbit of the <a href="/earth/moons_and_rings.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Moon</a> and even geosynchronous <a href="/space_missions/satellites.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">satellites</a>, it didn't strike Earth! Find out more from <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/asteroid20130201315144.html">NASA</a>! Fragments of a meteorite hit Chelyabinsk, Russia on 2/15/2013 <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-russia-meteorite-idUSBRE91E05Z20130215">injuring over 500</a>. Learn about <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/meteors/meteors.html">meteors and meteorites</a>.<p><small><em>NASA/JPL-CalTech</em></small></p>March 2012 marks the first anniversary of the 9.0 magnitude <a href="/earth/geology/quake_1.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">earthquake</a>, <a href="/earth/tsunami1.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">tsunami</a>, and resulting nuclear accident in Japan on <a href="/headline_universe/march112011earthquaketsunami.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">11 March 2011</a>. The tsunami did massive damage, wiping out entire villages and killing ~16,000 people, and leading to one of the most serious nuclear accidents in history. This image shows before and after photos of the area north of Sendai, where 10,000 people were lost.<p><small><em>Photos by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html?hp">GeoEye/EyeQ</a>.</em></small></p><p>The United Nations <a href="http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/PAND_report.pdf" target="_blank">estimated</a> that between 1994-2015, there were 6,873 natural disasters worldwide, which affected 218 million people and claimed 1.35 million lives. </p> <p>Check out the materials about natural disasters in <a href="/earth/natural_hazards/when_nature_strikes.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">NBC Learn Videos</a>, and their earth system science connections built up by the related secondary classroom activities.</p><p><small><em>NBC Learn</em></small></p>According to <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-277">NASA scientists</a>, the Voyager 1 spacecraft entered interstellar space in August 2012, becoming the first spacecraft to leave the <a href="/our_solar_system/solar_system.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">solar system</a>. The space probe is about 19 billion km from the <a href="/sun/sun.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Sun</a>. <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Voyager 1 and 2</a> were launched in 1977 on a <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">mission</a> that flew them both by <a href="/jupiter/jupiter.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Jupiter</a> and <a href="/saturn/saturn.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Saturn</a>, with Voyager 2 continuing to <a href="/uranus/uranus.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Uranus</a> and <a href="/neptune/neptune.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Neptune</a>. Voyager 2 is the longest continuously operated spacecraft. It is about 15 billion km away from the <a href="/sun/sun.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/triton_atmosphere.html">Sun</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>


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