Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.
NISAR Sends First Space Images-NASA-ISRO’s Mega Mission Kicks Off
The joint NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission has delivered
its very first images from space, offering a glimpse into the powerful radar capabilities that will soon provide an unprecedented view of Earth’s surface. The satellite, launched by ISRO on July 30, has begun operations that showcase its ability to map forests, wetlands, farmland, and urban areas with stunning clarity. Captured on Aug. 21, this image from NISAR’s L-band radar shows Maine’s Mount Desert Island. These initial images are just a preview of the hard-hitting science that Nisar will produce.
From Orbit to Ocean: Astronaut Captures Amazon’s Mighty Flow
Astronaut Don Pettit has once again turned his lens toward Earth, this time capturing a mesmerising view of the Amazon River basin from space. While aboard his mission, Pettit photographed the world's largest river system shimmering under the effect of sunglint, sunlight reflecting directly off its surface, creating what he described as a "glowing fractal pattern" spread across the rainforest landscape. In the image, shared from orbit, the Amazon appears almost like a living organism, its vast network of tributaries branching out like veins across tens of kilometres of floodplain. The main river snakes toward the Atlantic Ocean, accompanied by winding secondary channels, oxbow lakes, and floodplain lakes that glisten in the stark black-and-white rendering.
Astrophotographer Snaps Stunning Image of Two Comets in a Celestial Sprint
In a stunning celestial capture, an astrophotographer on Reunion Island has photographed two comets appearing to race side-by-side across the night sky. The rare image, shared in a post on X, shows the comets C/2025 K1 ATLAS and C/2025 R2 SWAN blazing bright trails as they pass close to Earth. What makes this sighting extraordinary is that one of the comets, C/2025 K1 ATLAS, is an interstellar visitor that originated from outside our solar system. Its trajectory is markedly different from the other comet, C/2025 R2 SWAN, which is native to the Sun’s gravitational influence. Despite their vastly different origins and paths through space, from Earth they appeared side-by-side, creating a rare visual race across the skies.
Nature’s Reset Button? Why Human Mistakes Might Trigger a Frozen Future
A team of scientists has found that Earth’s carbon cycle could potentially overcorrect rising temperatures and trigger an intensely cool climate, severe enough to cause an ice age. For decades, scientists believed that Earth’s climate stability was maintained by a natural process: rainwater absorbing carbon dioxide, dissolving silicate rocks, and carrying the resulting compounds into the ocean. The researchers found that rising CO2 levels also transfer other nutrients, such as phosphorus, into the oceans. This stimulates the growth of plankton, which absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When plankton die, the carbon they contain sinks to the ocean floor, buried with their remains. The complication arises because warmer oceans hold less oxygen. Low oxygen levels cause phosphorus to recycle back into the water, fueling further plankton growth.
