This photograph was taken by the crew on board the Columbia during it's last mission. This photograph was taken via satellite, on a cloudless day. 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. Note that the lights are already on in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona, and that's it's still daylight in London, Lisbon, and Madrid. The sun is still shining on the Straight of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean Sea is already in darkness. 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. Note that the Sahara is huge and can be seen clearly both during daytime and nighttime. To the left, on top, is Greenland, totally frozen. All-in-all, a Fantastic photograph!
This is not a photograph, and it was certainly not taken "by the crew of Columbia" "by satellite." This is a computer generated image. I don't believe astronauts usually see Earth in a Mercator projection... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! - Warren
Nice picture...must have been on that one day when the ocean dried up for a while. I don't think they got the terminator line quite right either...
yah i agree with chroot on this one, the very wording of the picture is faulty. A picture is taken by the Columbia crew and also a satellite? Amazing that the satellite had to have the picture taken by the crew, and no some ground based command.
ooops.... i received this pic (and associated text) by email. i never thought it could be a fake pic, and so i mailed it to everyone in my address book ! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! nice observations...