NASA shares never-seen-before picture of frozen seawater on Earth taken from ISS

“This soft serve machine is not broken,” NASA wittily wrote while sharing a picture of Earth taken from the ISS.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) often capture never-seen-before views of the earth which when shared on social media leave people mesmerised. NASA took to Instagram to share an image captured from the ISS that shows a “dazzling display of frozen seawater”.

NASA shared this image on Instagram that shows a view of Earth from the ISS. (Instagram/@nasa)

“This soft serve machine is not broken. Threads of sea ice trace ocean currents, creating swirls visible along the coast of Labrador, in eastern Canada. The dazzling display of frozen seawater was captured from aboard the International Space Station on Feb. 3, 2024,” NASA wrote.

In the next few lines, the space agency explained what’s shown in the picture. “Ocean currents can stir ice chunks into circular vortices, or eddies. Eddies form frequently along boundaries between cold and warm ocean currents in the spring and fall, due to differences in water density. Even then, however, an ice eddy won’t form except under certain conditions: it must be warm enough for the ice to fragment, but cool enough for it to remain frozen,” they added.

According to an image description NASA shared on Instagram, the photo shows “a portion of Earth pictured from the International Space Station. The cast of Labrador, in eastern Canada, frames the left side of the image, while icy seas expand towards the right. An icy swirl is pictured down the centre of the water. A layer of blue glowing atmosphere contrasts with the darkness of space”.

Take a look at this incredible view of Earth from the ISS:

The post was shared nearly seven hours ago. Since then, the share has accumulated more than 2.1 lakh likes. The post has further collected tons of comments from people.

What did Instagram users say about this NASA post?

“Cloud soft serve,” wrote an Instagram user. “This is simply wow,” added another. “Wow, this is awesome,” added a third. “So beautiful,” commented a fourth. Many reacted to the video using heart emoticons.