| The Lena River flows north for over 2,800 miles through Russian Siberia to the Arctic Ocean. As the river enters the Laptev Sea, it divides into many channels to form a biologically rich delta. Landsat 7 satellite, July 2000 USGS, EROS Data Center
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Earth at Night - Streetlights are the source of most of the light seen in this image, but petroleum fires also contribute. A dark blue layer was added to the image to show where land masses are located. European cities are especially bright, and in Egypt, lights glitter along the Nile. Such images have been used to estimate global urban populations.
DMSP satellites, data collected 1994-1995
Marc Imhoff, Craig Mayhew, Robert Simmon NASA/GSFC; Christopher Elvidge NOAA/NGDC
New York - Bridges, tunnels and subways connect Manhattan and the other boroughs. More than 10 million people live in the area captured in this view. Landsat images, such as this one, are used to map the extent of urbanization on the earth's surface.
Landsat 7 satellite, April 2002
USGS, EROS Data Center, National Air and Space Museum
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View the Earth from Above
in
Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition
June 12 - August 8, 2010
Bendel Mansion (main building)
Each day, high above the clouds, dozens of sophisticated imaging satellites circle the Earth. These high-tech machines are capable of capturing extraordinary conditions and events that are nearly impossible to document from the surface of the planet. These remarkable images, which reveal the awesome beauty of the planet's surface through the "eyes" of a space satellite, are on display in a new Smithsonian traveling exhibition.
"Earth from Space" opens at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center in Stamford, Conn., June 12, 2010 and will remain on view through August 8, 2010. The exhibition will then continue its national tour through 2010.
Featuring 40 beautifully detailed satellite images of the planet - from the swirling arms of a massive hurricane and grid-like pattern of Kansas farmland to the triangular shadows cast by the Great Pyramids and the sinuous channels entering the Arctic Ocean - "Earth from Space" illustrates how satellite imagery is gathered and used to expand mankind's understanding of life on Earth. It also explores the remote sensing technology used to gather the images and discusses the individual satellites whose images are on display.
A Magic Planet digital video globe - a digital display with a sphere-shaped screen - complements the traveling exhibition. The animations on this tool will allow visitors to observe the global extent of images returned from orbiting satellites.
An educational companion Web site - www.eathrfromspace.si.edu - contains an online version of the exhibition, as well as additional images and information. It also provides numerous educational resource, including lesson plans, classroom activities, Web site links and available publication.
"Earth from Space" was developed by the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). Andrew Johnson, a geographer at the National Air and Space Museum's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, and author of "Earth from Space" (Firefly Books, 2004), is the exhibition's curator.
The exhibition is made possible by Global Imagination. Additional support is provided by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Smithsonian's Women's Committee.
The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum maintains the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world, is a vital center for research into the history, science and technology of aviation and the space flight, and commemorates the development of aviation flight. The Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, a scientific research unit within the museum, performs original research and outreach activities on topics covering planetary science, terrestrial geophysics and the remote sensing of environmental changes.
SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside of Washington, D.C., for more than 50 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through the wide range of exhibitions about art, science and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. Exhibition descriptions and tour schedules are available at www.sites.si.edu.
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