This image of Hurricane Isaac illuminated by moonlight is unique and strangely beautiful. It was captured at midnight on August 28, 2012, just as it was hitting the Gulf’s coast.
Hurricane Isaac is now seriously testing the new levees in New Orleans, a city still scarred by the Katrina nightmare. From space, however, the terrifying show is eerily magnificent.
The strange and beautiful look is the result of the moon illumination and NASA Suomi’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument, which captures Earth’s surface at different light wavelengths, “from green to near-infrared”. Suomi also “uses light intensification to enable the detection of dim signals”, like the light of the moon. [NASA Goddard]