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Birthday · August 19, 1997

Super Typhoon Winnie

August 19, 1997

In the time it took you to read this, the Earth moved another thousand miles through space. You are not standing still. You never have been.

Super Typhoon Winnie

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APOD published August 19, 1997. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

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Super Typhoon Winnie

Original APOD · August 19, 1997

Super Typhoon Winnie raged through parts of the Eastern Hemisphere last week. Swirling in the Pacific Ocean with winds in excess of 160 miler per hour, Winnie became one of the stronger storm systems in modern times: a Category 5 Hurricane. The above picture, taken August 13th by crew member of Space Shuttle Discovery, showed the extent of this huge storm: the central eye measured fully 8 miles in diameter. Last week, Winnie hit the Northern Mariana Islands at full strength, but then weakened before heading toward China. Studying large storms systems on other planets give insight into the workings of Earth bound storms like Winnie.

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