ALT On a black background of space, a blue and white Earth just before 'setting' behind the Moon, in foreground, seen from Artemis II, 6 April 2026

ALT Totality seen from lunar orbit, the Moon eclipses the Sun, revealing a view few humans have ever witnessed, a dark disc surrounded by a pale solar corona.

ALT Before going to sleep on flight day 5, the Artemis II crew snapped one more photo of the Moon, as it drew close in the window of the Orion spacecraft. Orion and the four humans aboard entered the lunar sphere of influence at 06:37 CEST on 6 April, at the tail end of the fifth day of their mission. That marked the point at which the Moon's gravity had a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth's. Artemis II's closest approach to the Moon will come on flight day 6, as they swing around the far side before beginning their journey back to Earth. About an hour after entering the lunar sphere of influence, Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch said, "We are now falling to the Moon rather than rising away from Earth. It is an amazing milestone!"

ALT Spectacular high-resolution image of our home planet viewed through the Orion Crew Module window by the Artemis II astronauts as they continue their journey to the Moon on Flight Day 2, 3 April 2026 (pic: NASA)

ALT A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)

ALT Map showing land surface temperatures across the U.S. and Mexico on 21 March 2026, with intense red heat over the Southwest and Mexico and cooler blue tones in northern and eastern regions.

ALT Satellite image of Antelope Valley (on 20 March) featuring a patchwork of agricultural fields and desert terrain, with geometric plots bordered by nearby mountains.

ALT Satellite image of Grass Valley (on 20 March) showing a rugged desert landscape with rocky outcrops and sandy flats in shades of brown, red, and yellow.

ALT Graph showing accumulated rainfail between 9-17 February 2026

ALT Copernicus Sentinel‑1 radar image showing flooded areas in red

ALT Copernicus Sentinel‑2 true‑colour view of the same region

ALT This map shows vertical ground movement, where the green areas have sunk by up to 5 mm over a year, while the brown areas have risen by up to 5 mm.

ALT a land surface map of Australia created with data from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite on 27 January. The map uses thermal data to highlight the severity of the ongoing heatwave across Australia, with extreme land surface temperatures (LST) detected over large regions. For example, in Willcania and Broken Hill, recorded land surface temperatures ranged between 58 and 60 °C, whereas Adelaide appeared cooler, with temperatures of 45–48 °C, likely due to its proximity to the sea.

ALT Map of forest carbon from ESA’s Biomass mission.

ALT Forest carbon from ESA’s Biomass mission

ALT This image from September 2025 captures a small fraction of the Pantanal, which straddles the border between Bolivia to the west, and the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso to the north and Mato Grosso do Sul to the east. A complex mosaic of flooded grasslands, savannas, tropical forests, rivers and human settlements are visible in the image.

ALT Satellite view of central Chile on 18 January 2026, highlighting an extensive wildfire smoke plume originating near Concepción and sweeping in a broad arc over the Pacific Ocean. The image shows dense marine cloud patterns offshore, the rugged coastal landscape, and annotated locations including Concepción and Santiago.

ALT This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image over the South Atlantic Ocean features a close-up view of the A23a iceberg, once the world’s largest.

ALT A close-up view of the A23a iceberg.