Dust Storm over Iraq (2009)

This true-color satellite image shows a violent dust storm over Iraq, between Syria and the Iraq-Iran border.

The high density of fine dust particles of just the right size (about 1 millionth of a meter) have been causing a "blue moon" over Iraq. ("Blue Moon Stories" from Space Weather.)

This image was captured on 3 July 2009, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

Credit: NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center [source].

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