Nasa satellite captures image of Christmas Island
26 Dec 2014
A NASA satellite has snapped a picture of Christmas Island from space, www.space.com reported.
The agency's Aqua satellite, which monitors the earth's water in its many forms, spotted the Kiritimati Island (sometimes called Christmas Island) in the Pacific Ocean, and captured a colourful image of the relatively tiny 150 square miles island. The island forms of the Republic of Kiribati.
"It [Christmas Island] is located about 141 miles (232 km) north of the Equator and 4,160 miles (6,700 km) from Sydney, Australia," NASA officials said in a statement. "In the Kiribati language, the name 'Kiritimati' is a spelling of the English word 'Christmas.'"
NASA's holiday season spirit is not limited to the image though. Under its new initiative interested persons can send special season's greetings to astronauts on the International Space Station via Twitter through NASA's website. Astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Terry Virts are working on the space station and would continue their work through the holiday season into 2015.
Meanwhile, Virts and Wilmore also sent their holiday hellos greetings to people on terra firma in a special holiday video.
"It's such an honor, and it's so much fun to celebrate Christmas up here," Virts said in the video featured by NASA. "This is definitely going to be a Christmas that we'll remember, getting a chance to the beautiful Earth. And I hope that for you, also, it'll be a memorable Christmas this year. Have fun with your family, enjoy the day, and merry Christmas."
