NASA watches Hurricane Earl over the east coast of the United States

Residents of the eastern United States are being battered by Hurricane Earl. A series of NASA satellites and aircraft are monitoring the monster with winds of 125 kilometers per hour.

Hurricane Earl became a Category 3 typhoon on Wednesday morning, extending 200 miles from its eye in images taken from the International Space Station.

NASA scientists flew into the vortex to measure things like hurricane speed and rainfall as part of NASA's GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) program, NASA DC-8 passed through the eye of Hurricane Earl six times during the transition from a Category 2 to a Category 4 hurricane. At the same time, a crew member of the ISS took the photo using a digital camera with a 50mm lens within a safe range.