This stunning image (courtsey of imageshack) was taken by the crew on board the Columbia
during its last mission. According to the email that came with the link, another thanks to Dave.
The email went on to say
The picture is of Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Half of the picture is in night. The bright dots you see are the cities' lights. The top part of Africa is the Sahara Desert
In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you can see the Azores Islands; below them to the right are the Madeira Islands ; a bit below are the Canary Islands; and further South, close to the farthest western point of Africa , are the Cape Verde Islands.
wow wow wow!
ReplyDeletenow i'm not keen on flying but part of me would love to scoot into space just for the wonderful views of earth
p.s. you seem to have solved the page slippage issue from explorer - thanks! no more scrolling for me!
That is an awesome photo! You can tell where most of the people live too, because of the concentration of lights-- cool!
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonderful picture but... is it real? The lack of cloud cover over such a large area makes me a tad suspicious.
ReplyDeleteThere are computer programs that can simulate this, including the continental shelf and ocean trenches.
Still, it'd be good to see one of good old UK at night...
Nice photo but.....
ReplyDelete1. Why can you see the sahara so well at "night"? Conspiricy theories anyone? I have one. YELLOW CAKE URANIUM! Time to invade North Korea. And get some chocolate frosting. And sprinkles! The president likes lots of sprinkles on his yellow cake. But NOT rainbow sprinkles! Those are too gay.
Cool photo.. I think it might be a composite satellite image though...
ReplyDeleteFor a photo of London at night, check out this page Also has some links to an awesome composite image of the whole planet at night
Actually (you probably already noticed this) but the exact same image is on the site that Jo linked. It says it is a composite taken by "several Earth-orbiting satellites and ocean-faring ships", I wonder how they do that.
ReplyDeleteUC - realised it was some photos being too large will have to go back through them all and resize to max 420 pixels wide.
ReplyDeleteSpin - Yes it fabby isn't it.
Steve - Welcome, it is good and like you and Joanna below I have my doubts as to whether it is what it says it is but I know it's not Google Earth.
Iggy - Lol
Wow to days running I have contributed to Jane's blog. So all those wasted hours trolling through funnies sent to me from round and about have not been wasted. :)
ReplyDeleteEither that or you have been too preoccupied to think up something Jane, LOL, and I bet it wasn't grouting ;)
What a great photo. I'd love to include that in my Flickr account but I doubt anyone would believe it was mine. Can you imagine going on a Shuttle flight and forgetting your Camera. To use the vernacular, you'd be gutt'd!
ReplyDeleteThat photo is awesome. So beautiful and tranquil.
ReplyDeleteNot a cloud in the sky...!? It must be a composite.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome pic.
ReplyDeleteDave - You know full well that I can stare at fluff and not think of grouting! Don't think that you are going to get any sort of renumeration for the funnies either, just be thankful that your name is in lights!
ReplyDeleteEm - I agree I think we spend so much time on the ground looking at this place with our eyes near the horizon, we forget that it is stunningingly beautiful, it takes a photo from space to remind us.
Anon - Yes I agree, that or very good computer imaging but it is still beautiful that's why I pinged it up.
Hannah - Welcome, yup it is.
Ah well the sheer pleasure of having contributed to your site is enough LOL
ReplyDeleteDave - I might buy you a pint next time I see you as a thank you :-p
ReplyDeleteI''ll be back. Later :)
ReplyDelete