An estimated 42,000 gallons of oil a day is spilling into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the explosion aboard an offshore oil rig about 40 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico last week - on Earth Day of all days.  Ever since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank to the sea floor last week - an explosion that killed eleven crew members and injured several otehrs - oil has been leaking into the ocean in what is certainly now considered an ecological disaster.

The below image, taken by a NASA satellite, captures the extent of the spill - a wirling sheen of oil — roughly 50 miles long and 33 miles wide.

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