The European Space Agency's GOCE satellite (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) has just imaged the Earth's gravity in HD. The colourful map, as can be seen above, traces the subtle but all pervasive influence the pull of gravity has across the globe and is referred to as a 'geoid' – a map which defines where the hypothetical level surface is on Earth. Scientists say the gathered data has numerous applications, specifically in climate studies as the geoid can help highlight how the massive mass of ...

Amazing NASA images of the British Isles blanketed in snow Image courtesy of NASA The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (or MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite captured this incredibly chilling image of Great Britain on 7 January as most areas experienced freezing temperatures of -10C on the coldest night of the winter so far. Isolated areas were even subjected to lows of -22C in the Scottish Highlands. Snowfall followed by freezing temperatures left areas dangerously icy, resulting in widespread chaos ...