Pictures of Hurricanes | Universe Today

Written by Fraser Cain

Here are some amazing pictures of hurricanes captured by satellites. These really give you the best view of these powerful storms.

Hurricane Ike was the largest hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic Ocean, measuring 1,448 km across at its greatest point. It impacted the United States in 2008, and was the third more destructive hurricane to ever make landfall in the US.

Here's another picture of Hurricane Ike, this time captured from a different angle from the International Space Station. You can see the huge cloud banks rising up above the ocean.

Here's a picture of Hurricane Bill, the 5th largest tropical hurricane on record. It gained category 4 status in 2009, but was downgraded as it approached the coast of the United States.

This is an image of Hurricane Ivan captured from the International Space Station. You can see the station's solar panels tilted down towards the hurricane in this image. It was the 10th most powerful Atlantic hurricane, forming during the 2004 hurricane season.

Of course, we can't have pictures of hurricanes without a classic image of Hurricane Katrina, which formed in 2005. This is the most devastating hurricane to ever reach landfall, flooding the town of New Orleans and killing many people.

We've written many articles about hurricanes for Universe Today. Here's an article about how close Hurricane Bill came, and here's an article about Hurricane Ivan.

If you'd like more info on hurricanes, check out the NOAA's national hurricane center, and here's a link to NASA's hurricane information pages.

We've also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about atmospheres. Listen here, Episode 151: Atmospheres.

Filed under: Astronomy