{"id":560839,"date":"2026-08-06T14:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T14:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/560839\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T14:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T14:02:09","slug":"nasa-satellite-captures-hummingbird-shape-hidden-in-antarctic-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/560839\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Satellite Captures \u2018Hummingbird\u2019 Shape Hidden in Antarctic Ice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>      <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/hummingbird-nasa-image-800x420.jpg\" alt=\"A stylized, purple-toned close-up of an eye with long, radiating eyelashes and a dark, elongated pupil.\" width=\"800\" height=\"420\" class=\"size-large wp-image-867181\"   loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>This hummingbird shape in a NASAR satellite image is actually a mountaintop Antarctica. | Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech <\/p>\n<p>A NASA satellite has captured a striking image of a fractured Antarctic landscape that appears to resemble a hummingbird. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/nisar\/us-india-satellite-delivers-data-reveals-hummingbird-in-antarctica\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow external noopener nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">According to NASA,<\/a> teams in the United States and India collected data from two powerful radar instruments aboard the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite, revealing a fractured, barren Antarctic landscape in stunning detail. <\/p>\n<p>The satellite image, released on Tuesday, shows glacier data that appears to form the shape of a small purple bird.<br \/>Despite its otherworldly quality, the Antarctic image shows a very real geographical feature called Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, poking out amid a stream of ice flowing northeast to the ocean. As the moving glacier passes the obstruction, the mountain\u2019s topography causes stresses in the ice, heavily fracturing the surrounding surfaces with deep cracks, called crevasses, which show as sharp green lines in the image. The image has been nicknamed \u201cthe hummingbird\u201d by NISAR scientists.<\/p>\n<p>The feature that resembles a bird\u2019s tail is actually a glacier extending northeast toward the ocean, while the \u201cfeathers\u201d spreading from the peak are deep cracks in the ice and rock known as crevasses. These fractures form as the glacier moves downhill, causing the mountain\u2019s surface to split as the ice slowly flows toward the sea.<\/p>\n<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PIA26617_figA-800x629.jpg\" alt=\"A satellite radar image shows the dark, rocky Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja surrounded by flowing ice, marked by radiating crevasses.\" width=\"800\" height=\"629\" class=\"size-large wp-image-867182\"   loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"low\" decoding=\"async\"\/>The NASA radar image shows a \u2018hummingbird\u2019 shape created by a mountain peak and fractured Antarctic ice | Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech <\/p>\n<p>The image was created using data from the Earth-orbiting U.S.-India NISAR satellite\u2019s L-band radar system. It shows Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja rising above a stream of ice flowing northeast toward the ocean. <\/p>\n<p>Generated using measurements collected by NISAR\u2019s L-band instrument in August 2025, while U.S. and Indian mission teams were testing the satellite\u2019s systems, the \u201chummingbird\u201d image highlights the mission\u2019s ability to produce highly detailed radar imagery that reveals features of Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst, it\u2019s a beautiful image, with rich details of features that provide insights to how the glacier is moving. Then, because radar can often see through snow and deep into the ice, NISAR can observe fundamentally different properties of Antarctic ice than can be seen in optical imagery,\u201d Seongsu Jeong, the signal analysis engineer who produced the image at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, says in a statement. \u201cWith NISAR we\u2019re seeing what\u2019s hidden beneath the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Affiliate Disclosure PetaPixel articles may include affiliate links; we may earn a commission if you buy through one. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This hummingbird shape in a NASAR satellite image is actually a mountaintop Antarctica. | Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech A&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[111,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-560839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}