NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3), the agency's newest carbon dioxide-measuring mission to launch into space, has seen the light. From its perch on the International Space Station, OCO-3 captured its first glimpses of sunlight reflected by Earth's surface on 25 June, 2019. Just weeks later, the OCO-3 team was able to make its first determinations of carbon dioxide and solar-induced fluorescence — the "glow" that plants emit from photosynthesis, a process that includes the capture of carbon from the atmosphere.

Gulf Coast braces for Tropical Storm Barry

Tropical Storm Barry, seen here by GOES East on 12 July, 2019, at 9 a.m. (ET) is strengthening over the warm waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Barry is expected to begin tracking toward the northwest later today and turn north on Saturday before making landfall.