European Space Agency, ESA

Feeling the heat where you live? ♨️
We see it from space!

This map is showing land surface temperatures across Europe.

It was created using data from Copernicus Sentinel-3’s Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer. As the instrument’s name suggests, the image reveals the temperature of the land surface—not the air. Unlike air temperature measurements, this mission's instrument captures the actual thermal energy emitted from Earth’s surface, which typically registers higher than air temperatures.

📸 Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

41 minutes ago | [YT] | 196

European Space Agency, ESA

Did you know that Arrakis is not the only planet that has dunes? 🏜️

We've got: Earth, Mars, Titan and even a comet!
Swipe left to see some amazing dune features across our solar system.


- Badain Jaran Desert, Earth
-️ Namib Desert, Earth
-️ Rub' al Khali, Earth
-️ Gibson Desert, Earth
- Lomonosov Crater, Mars
- Green Crater, Argyre Quadrangle, Mars
- North Pole, Mars
-️ Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
- Titan, Saturn's moon

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1 day ago | [YT] | 4,411

European Space Agency, ESA

📸 This was our #WeekInImages 18-22 May 2026.

1️⃣ Vega-C shoots through the sky with a Smile 🚀
2️⃣ European Service Module at the (space) disco 🪩
3️⃣ Marseille, France 🌍
4️⃣ Group photo of ESA’s astronaut reserve 👩‍🚀
5️⃣ Earth from Space: Algerian arid landscape 🌍
6️⃣ Vega-C liftoff with Smile up close 🚀
7️⃣ ESA and CNES renew their commitment to Europe’s Spaceport 🤝

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/About_Us/Week_in_images/Week_in_images…

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3 days ago | [YT] | 5,914

European Space Agency, ESA

Smile is ready 🚀

Set to launch aboard a Vega-C rocket on Tuesday 19 May 05:52 CEST, this mission is about to give us an entirely new view of the connection between Earth and the Sun.

Watch the launch live coverage here: youtube.com/live/6q8aKbcKCOs

We have collaborated with the ‪@ChineseAcademyOfSciences‬ to find out how our planet responds to the streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun.

Smile will use an X-ray camera to make the first X-ray observations of Earth’s magnetic field, and an ultraviolet camera to watch the northern lights non-stop for 45 hours at a time.

ESA is responsible for providing Smile’s payload module, one of the spacecraft’s four science instruments (the X-ray camera), the launch, and the Assembly Integration and Testing facilities and services. We also contribute to a second science instrument (the ultraviolet imager, UVI) and the mission operations once Smile is in orbit.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences provides the spacecraft platform and the other three science instruments and will be responsible for operating the spacecraft in orbit.

Smile marks the first time that ESA and China have jointly selected, designed, implemented, launched, and operated a space mission together.

📸 ESA - M. Pédoussaut

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1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 6,290

European Space Agency, ESA

📸 This was our #WeekInImages 11-15 May 2026.

1️⃣ A Lyrid meteor from orbit ✨
2️⃣ Mars Express visits Shalbatana Vallis on Mars 🔴
3️⃣ Earth from Space: Quito’s volcanic landscape 🌎
4️⃣ Sarah Krahl: detecting laser contamination 🥼
5️⃣ A view from above: Shalbatana Vallis on Mars 🔴

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/About_Us/Week_in_images/Week_in_images…

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1 week ago | [YT] | 5,867

European Space Agency, ESA

📸 This was our #WeekInImages 04-08 May 2026.

1️⃣ A beacon of light in swirls of dust ⭐️
2️⃣ Star-forming regions in M51 ✨
3️⃣ New dawn, new possibilities... 16 times a day! 🌅
4️⃣ Earth from Space: Greenland's changing ice 🧊
5️⃣ Virtual Reality on the International Space Station 🕹️
6️⃣ Sensitive and sturdy 👾

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/About_Us/Week_in_images/Week_in_images…

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 7,567

European Space Agency, ESA

Happy Europe Day from orbit! 🇪🇺

Europe shines brightly at night, as seen in this mosaic created from over 7000 pictures taken by astronauts on the International Space Station. This is the first nighttime mosaic of Europe in colour ever produced with calibrated space images.

Are you somewhere in Europe? Say hello in your language in the comments. 🫶

📸 ESA/NASA/Cities at Night

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 8,706

European Space Agency, ESA

Webb is revealing the secrets of star clusters! ✨

Stars form in clusters, created when clouds of gas collapse. Eventually, these young stars blast away their cloud.

Our position in the Milky Way makes it difficult to watch this process in the closest star-forming regions. So, astronomers used Webb and Hubble to gaze into the cradles of star clusters 👶⭐ in four nearby galaxies from the FEAST programme.

The fifth image shows a star-forming nebula in the M51 galaxy. These observations showed that the most massive star clusters emerge from their clouds the fastest, subsequently filling their surroundings with ultraviolet light!

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb…

📸 ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Pedrini, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 8,851

European Space Agency, ESA

📸 This was our #WeekInImages 27 April - 01 May 2026.

1️⃣ Starry spiral in a familiar neighbourhood ✨
2️⃣ Mekong River, Cambodia 🌳
3️⃣ Lanzarote, Spain 🏝️
4️⃣ Personal Breathing Apparatus check 👩‍🚀
5️⃣ The great parachute bake-out ♨️
6️⃣ Team preparing the plasma wind tunnel 🥼
7️⃣ European Service Module team 👏
8️⃣ Earth from Space: Netherlands in bloom 🌍

What did space deliver for Europe in April? From the Moon to low Earth orbit and beyond, watch what the European Space Agency has been up to 👉 https://youtu.be/50eD-9b2yik

More 👉 www.esa.int/About_Us/Week_in_images/Week_in_images…

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 9,357

European Space Agency, ESA

Stunning images from Biomass mark its one year in orbit 🛰️🌳

From dense rainforests to remote wilderness, see what our forest‑watching satellite reveals from orbit.

1️⃣ Mekong River, Cambodia
2️⃣ Beni River, Bolivia
3️⃣ Northern Brazil silty channels
4️⃣ Savanna landscape Gulf Country, Australia
5️⃣ Rugged river canyons, Putorana Plateau
6️⃣ Berau River delta, Indonesia
7️⃣ Thermokarst lakes, northern Siberia
8️⃣ Antarctic crevasses
9️⃣ Arctic tundra
🔟 Gallery forests of the Angola–DRC borderlands

More 👉 www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Futur…

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4 weeks ago | [YT] | 5,648