- Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
- On May 22, 2002, Svalbard, Norway, tucked inside the Arctic Circle, was showing no signs of spring on land, while in the Barents Sea, ice had begun retreating from the western coastline. This series of images shows the thawing of the sea ice around Svalbard, and also shows snow retreating from the landscape. Patches of brown are showing through, especially along fjords and inlets. Some images show blooms of marine plants called phytoplankton, which create colorful blue and green patterns on the ocean surface.
- Volans (Wikipedia)
Volans is a constellation in the southern sky. It represents a flying fish; its name is a shortened form of its original name, Piscis Volans. Volans was one of twelve constellations created by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman and it first appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 (or 1598) in Amsterdam by Plancius with Jodocus Hondius. The first depiction of this constellation in a celestial atlas was in Johann Bayer’s Uranometria of 1603.
