                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2026 March 24

                           A Gravity Map of Earth
                    Video Credit: NASA, GSFC, GRACE, SVS

   Explanation: Is gravity the same over the surface of the Earth? No --
   in some places you will feel slightly heavier than others. The featured
   Earth map video shows in colors and exaggerated highs and lows where
   the gravitational field of Earth is relatively strong and weak. A low
   spot, where you would feel slightly lighter, can be seen just off the
   coast of India, in blue, while a relative high occurs in the mountains
   of Chile in South America. The cause of these irregularities does not
   always follow present surface features. Scientists hypothesize that
   other important factors lie in deep underground structures in Earth's
   mantle and may be related to the Earth's appearance in the distant
   past. The featured map was composed from data taken by NASA's twin
   GRACE satellites that orbited the Earth from 2002 to 2017. GRACE mapped
   Earth's gravity by carefully tracking tiny changes in the distance
   between the two satellites.

                        Tomorrow's picture: Space Eye
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

