10 / 220
NASA 01st February, 2003
Sunset over Europe and Africa
A digital composite made by several Earth-orbiting satellites and ocean-faring ships, this image simulates the sun setting over Europe and
Africa. The night side of the image, taken by DMSP satellites, is dotted with bright city lights and lighted road networks such as Paris,
Barcelona, and cities in Holland.
The daylight side is composed of land images taken from the MODIS instruments on NASA’s Terra satellite. In the daylight side, the vegetation
shows green, non-vegetated areas are tan, and ice is white. The topography of the ocean floor is also visible with the Madeira, Canary, and
Cape Verde islands showing clearly in the blue of the Atlantic Ocean.
The image taken by the crew on board the Columbia during its last mission before it crashed in space on the 01st February, 2003 at 4:36 pm
shows Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Half of the picture is in night and the bright dots you see are the lights in cities. The top part
of Africa is the Sahara desert. Lights are already on in cities in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona, and it is still daylight in London, Lisbon, and
Madrid.
The sun is still shining on the Straight of Gibraltar, and 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, the Cape Verde Islands. The Sahara is huge and can be seen clearly both during daytime and night. To the left,
on top, is Greenland, totally frozen.
vi