Aleteia logoAleteia logoAleteia
Thursday 28 March |
Holy Thursday of the Supper of the Lord
Aleteia logo
News
separateurCreated with Sketch.

German astronaut tweets shocking photographs of Europe during heatwave

ALEXANDER GERST;ASTRONAUT

NASA Johnson-CC BY-NC 2.0

J-P Mauro - published on 08/08/18

The images show parched, brown Earth as far as the eye can see.

Please consider a gift for Aleteia!
Help us spread the joy of Christ's victory.
Aleteia depends on your support.

Join our Lenten Campaign 2024.

DONATE NOW

Alexander Gerst has been enjoying the view from the International Space Station (ISS) since June, but earlier this week as he orbited over his homeland, he was shocked by what he saw. Courtesy of the record breaking heatwave in Europe, nearly the entire country of Germany is parched and brown.

He shared the photos on Twitter:

The image on the left shows the area surrounding the town of Cologne on the Rhine River in North Rhine Westphalia, where the European Space Agency (ESA) makes its base. Even the land around the river, which is normally lush, has turned brown. On the right is a wider view of Centeral Europe, which looks like a scene from late autumn.

A couple days later, Gerst posted images of Germany taken from the ISS in 2014, to give a sense of what the area normally looks like.

This summer’s European heatwave has given way to interesting stories, from finding the childhood home of Saint Plunkett in Ireland to thousands of fish dying due to increased temperatures of the Rhine. Gerst also shared images of a wildfire kicking up dust for miles in Portugal.

Thankfully, some rain has passed over France and Germany since Gerst took those pictures, which mercifully lowered the temperature a bit.

Alexander Gerst is a geophysicist and volcanologist who went up to the ISS in June alongside NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor and Roscosmos commander Sergei Prokopyev in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft. DW.com mentions that he is in space working on 50 European experiments including some that may shed light on how muscles and the brain react to living away from Earth.

Tags:
Science
Support Aleteia!

Enjoying your time on Aleteia?

Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you.

Thanks to their partnership in our mission, we reach more than 20 million unique users per month!

Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting and transformative Catholic news, stories, spirituality, and more.

Support Aleteia with a gift today!

jour1_V2.gif
Daily prayer
And today we celebrate...




Top 10
See More
Newsletter
Get Aleteia delivered to your inbox. Subscribe here.