Greenland's <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html">ice sheet</a> saw a record <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/headline_universe/olpa/greenland_10dec07.html">melt</a> in July 2012. Scientists studying this event have found that this melting event was triggered by an influx of unusually warm air and amplified by the presence of a blanket of thin low-level <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a> which pushed temperatures up above freezing. For more information see the <a href="http://www.news.wisc.edu/21638">press release</a> from the University of Wisconsin Madison.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison</em></small></p>Stars don't last forever. Occasionally, a star bigger than our Sun will end its life in a huge explosion, called a <a href="/the_universe/supernova.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">supernova</a>. The center of the star collapses in less than a second, blowing away the outer layers of the star. There are many beautiful images of supernova remnants, the expanding shell of gas made up of the outer layers of the original star. This image is the Vela Supernova Remnant.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of the Anglo-Australian Observatory/Royal Observatory Edinburgh</em></small></p>The massive 9.0 magnitude <a href="/earth/geology/quake_1.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">earthquake</a> off of Honshu, Japan on <a href="/headline_universe/march112011earthquaketsunami.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">11 March 2011</a> generated a <a href="/earth/tsunami1.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">tsunami</a> that exceeded 10 meters on the coast near the epicenter. This image shows model projections for the tsunami wave height in cm which are in good agreement with the observed waves. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were lost, and their families, as we remember this event.<p><small><em><a href="http://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/files/2011/03/680_20110311-TsunamiWaveHeight.jpg">NOAA Tsunami Wave Height Projections image</a></em></small></p>The spinning vortex of <a href="https://www.windows2universe.org/saturn/saturn.html">Saturn</a>'s north polar storm resembles a giant deep red rose surrounded by green foliage in this false-color <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia14944.html">image</a> from NASA's <a href="https://www.windows2universe.org/missions/cassini.html">Cassini spacecraft</a>. The eye is 2,000 kilometers across with cloud speeds as fast as 150 meters per second. It is not known how long this newly discovered north-polar <a href="https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/hurricane.html">hurricane</a> has been active. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 419,000 kilometers from Saturn.<p><small><em>NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI</em></small></p>According to <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-277">NASA scientists</a>, the Voyager 1 spacecraft entered interstellar space in August 2012, becoming the first spacecraft to leave the <a href="/our_solar_system/solar_system.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">solar system</a>. The space probe is about 19 billion km from the <a href="/sun/sun.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">Sun</a>. <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">Voyager 1 and 2</a> were launched in 1977 on a <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">mission</a> that flew them both by <a href="/jupiter/jupiter.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">Jupiter</a> and <a href="/saturn/saturn.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">Saturn</a>, with Voyager 2 continuing to <a href="/uranus/uranus.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">Uranus</a> and <a href="/neptune/neptune.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">Neptune</a>. Voyager 2 is the longest continuously operated spacecraft. It is about 15 billion km away from the <a href="/sun/sun.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">Sun</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>This dramatic view of Jupiter's <a href="/jupiter/atmosphere/J_clouds_GRS.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">Great Red Spot</a> and its surroundings was obtained by <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/privacy_policy.html">Voyager 1</a> on Feb. 25, 1979, when the spacecraft was 5.7 million miles (9.2 million kilometers) from Jupiter. Cloud details as small as 100 miles (160 kilometers) across can be seen here. The colorful, wavy cloud pattern to the left of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily complex end variable wave motion.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>


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