Desert WindsIt's a beige holiday season for the western Sahara as hot, dry winds kick up massive dust clouds in a picture taken December 28. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spetroradiometer (MODIS), an instrument riding on NASA's Terra satellite, snapped this natural color view as the dust moved west over the Atlantic ocean.Although large dust storms can be considered natural hazards, they're an important source of minerals for the Amazon River Basin and have been known to trigger phytoplankton blooms in the eastern Atlantic.
Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS/NASA

Space Pictures This Week: Planets Suck, Fissures Fume

Giant planets hoover gas, a volcano spews, and Dallas twinkles in the latest space pictures.

January 9, 2013