The planet Mercury is seen in silhouette as it transits across the face of the sun, Monday, Nov. 11, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mercury’s last transit was in 2016. the next won't happen again until 2032. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
This anaglyph, from NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, is of Salt Lake City, Utah. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.
The 2002 Winter Olympics are hosted by Salt Lake City at several venues within the city, in nearby cities, and within the adjacent Wasatch Mountains.
The 2002 Winter Olympics are hosted by Salt Lake City at several venues within the city, in nearby cities, and within the adjacent Wasatch Mountains. This simulated natural color image presents a late spring view of north central Utah that includes all of the Olympic sites. The image extends from Ogden in the north, to Provo in the south; and includes the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains and the eastern part of the Great Salt Lake. This image was acquired on May 28, 2000 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER will image Earth for the next 6 years to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03464
This radar image of Salt Lake City, Utah, illustrates the different land use patterns that are present in the Utah Valley. Salt Lake City lies between the shores of the Great Salt Lake (the dark area on the left side of the image) and the Wasatch Front Range (the mountains in the upper half of the image). The Salt Lake City area is of great interest to urban planners because of the combination of lake, valley and alpine environments that coexist in the region. Much of the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake is a waterfowl management area. The green grid pattern in the right center of the image is Salt Lake City and its surrounding communities. The Salt Lake City airport is visible as the brown rectangle near the center of the image. Interstate Highway 15 runs from the middle right edge to the upper left of the image. The bright white patch east of Interstate 15 is the downtown area, including Temple Square and the state capitol. The University of Utah campus is the yellowish area that lies at the base of the mountains, east of Temple Square. The large reservoir in the lower left center is a mine tailings pond. The semi-circular feature in the mountains at the bottom edge of the image is the Kennecott Copper Mine. The area shown is 60 kilometers by 40 kilometers (37 miles by 25 miles) and is centered at 40.6 degrees north latitude, 112.0 degrees west longitude. North is toward the upper left. This image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on April 10, 1994. The colors in this image represent the following radar channels and polarizations: red is L-band, horizontally transmitted and received; green is L-band, horizontally transmitted and vertically received; and blue is C-band, horizontally transmitted and vertically received. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian and United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01798
Salt Lake City, Utah, Winter 2001 The 2002 Winter Olympics are hosted by Salt Lake City at several venues within the city, in nearby cities, and within the adjacent Wasatch Mountains. This simulated natural color image presents a snowy, winter view of north central Utah that includes all of the Olympic sites. The image extends from Ogden in the north, to Provo in the south; and includes the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains and the eastern part of the Great Salt Lake. This image was acquired on February 8, 2001 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER will image Earth for the next 6 years to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18,1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products. Dr. Anne Kahle at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, is the U.S. Science team leader; Bjorn Eng of JPL is the project manager. ASTER is the only high resolution imaging sensor on Terra. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, along-term research and technology program designed to examine Earth's land, oceans, atmosphere, ice and life as a total integrated system. The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER will provide scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping, and monitoring dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils and geology; and measuring surface heat balance. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team Credit: <b><a href="http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow"> NASA Earth Observatory</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
The 2002 Winter Olympics are hosted by Salt Lake City at several venues within the city, in nearby cities, and within the adjacent Wasatch Mountains.
The 2002 Winter Olympics are hosted by Salt Lake City at several venues within the city, in nearby cities, and within the adjacent Wasatch Mountains. This 3-D perspective view, in simulated natural colors, presents a late spring view over Salt Lake City towards the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains to the east. The image was created by draping ASTER image data over digital topography data from the US Geological Survey's National Elevation Data. This image was acquired on May 28, 2000 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER will image Earth for the next 6 years to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03466
The 2002 Winter Olympics are hosted by Salt Lake City at several venues within the city, in nearby cities, and within the adjacent Wasatch Mountains. This simulated natural color image presents a snowy, winter view of north central Utah that includes all of the Olympic sites. The image extends from Ogden in the north, to Provo in the south; and includes the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains and the eastern part of the Great Salt Lake. This image was acquired on February 8, 2001 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER will image Earth for the next 6 years to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03465
SL3-22-0322 (July-September 1973) --- An oblique view of the Salt Lake City, Utah area as photographed from Earth orbit by one of the six lenses of the Itek-furnished S190-A Multispectral Photographic Facility Experiment aboard the Skylab space station. Approximately two-thirds of the Great Salt Lake is in view. The smaller body of water south of Salt Lake City is Utah Lake. The Wasatch Range is on the east side of the Great Salt Lake. Federal agencies participating with NASA on the EREP project are the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers. All EREP photography is available to the public through the Department of Interior?s Earth Resources Observations Systems Data Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 57198. Photo credit: NASA
iss072e399194 (Dec. 19, 2024) --- The city lights of Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah, and its surrounding suburbs are pictured at about 5:17 a.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 258 miles above.
S114-E-5455 (27 July 2005) --- This digital still camera frame, showing the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City, is one of a series of photos of both domestic and world-wide targets of opportunity captured by the STS-114 astronauts. Salt Lake City is in the upper half of the photo between the Great Salt Lake and the smaller Lake Utah. A 28 mm lens was used to record the image.
Magnificent views of the region surrounding Salt Lake City, Utah are captured in these winter and summer images from NASA Terra satellite imaged on February 8, 2001 and June 16, 2001.
Earth Observations taken by Expedition 38 crewmember. Crewmember indicates Salt Lake City,Utah. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter.
ISS007-E-07360 (14 June 2003) --- This regional view of Salt Lake City, Utah taken by an Expedition 7 crewmember onboard the International Space Station (ISS) shows the city and its suburbs nestled between the Wasatch Front and the Great Salt Lake. The core of Interstate Highway 15 runs North-South through the valley, with suburbs arrayed east and west of the highway. An important issue facing Salt Lake City’s growing population is preservation and allocation of water resources. Utah is in its fifth year of drought. One of the most dramatic effects of the drought visible in this picture is the fact that the lake levels are so low that Antelope Island is separated from the mainland by dry lakebed. Expansive productive wetlands occur where freshwater flows from the Wasatch Range and into the lake. The southern end of this network of wetlands can be seen in the image.
As seen from space, the Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA (41.5N, 112.5W) appears as two separate bodies of water with a narrow divider in the middle. At the turn of the century, a railroad bridge without culverts, was built across the lake and ever since, the water and salinity levels have been uneqal on either side. Fed by snowmelt from the nearby Wasatch Mountains, the lake in recent years has had record high water levels, threatening to flood the local areas.
ISS038-E-016506 (12 Dec. 2013) --- A nighttime view of Salt Lake City, Utah is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 38 crew member on the International Space Station. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area is located along the western front of the Wasatch Range in northern Utah. Viewed at night from the vantage point of the space station, the regular north-south and east-west layout of street grids typical of western U.S. cities is clearly visible. Known as "the crossroads of the West", the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS Church and informally as the Mormon Church), and the state capital of Utah, Salt Lake City was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young together with other followers of the Mormon faith. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area today is included in the larger urban Wasatch Front region of Utah which includes over two million people (approximately 80 percent of the population of the state). Both the color of the city lights and their density provide clues to the character of the urban fabric -- yellow gold lights generally indicate major roadways such as Interstate Highway 15 that passes through the center of the metropolitan area (center, left to right), while bright white clusters of lights are associated with city centers, commercial, and industrial areas. In contrast, residential and suburban areas are recognizable due to diffuse and relatively dim lighting (center left). The Wasatch Range to the east is largely dark, as are several large urban parks and golf courses located within the illuminated urban areas.
ISS011-E-13889 (30 September 2005) --- Wasatch Range, Utah is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 11 crewmember on the international space station. The Wasatch Range forms an impressive backdrop to the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, and is a frequent destination for hikers, backpackers, and skiers. The range is considered to be the westernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, and rises to elevations of approximately 3600 meters (12,000 feet) above sea level. This photograph, taken at the end of September, captures red- (maple trees) and gold-mantled (aspen trees) hill slopes along the western mountain front to the south of Salt Lake City. Other common tree species at these elevations include pine, fir, spruce, willow, birch, and oak. A portion of Draper City is visible in the left half of the image. The elevation of Lone Peak, visible at upper right, is approximately 3410 meters (11,253 feet).
This is a view of the Great Salt Lake and nearby Bonneville Salt Flats, UT, (41.0N, 112.5W). A railroad causeway divides the lake with a stark straight line changing the water level and chemistry of the lake as a result. Fresh water runoff enters from the south adding to the depth and reducing the salinity. The north half receives little frsh water and is more saline and shallow. The Bonnieville Salt Flats is the lakebed of a onetime larger lake.
iss073e0078538 (May 17, 2025) --- The city lights of Tunis, the capital of the north African nation of Tunisia with a metropolitan population of 2.67 million, contrast the city's historical and modern character in this photograph at approximately 12:34 a.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 260 miles above the Mediterranean Sea. Tunis sits in between the Lake of Tunis and the Sebkhet Sejoumi, a seasonal salt flat, and is situated on the Gulf of Tunis.
ISS028-E-035137 (30 Aug. 2011) --- Owens Lake in California is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 28 crew member on the International Space Station. This photograph highlights the mostly dry bed of Owens Lake, located in the Owens River Valley between the Inyo Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Shallow groundwater, springs, and seeps support minor wetlands and a central brine pool. Two bright red areas along the margins of the brine pool indicate the presence of halophilic, or salt-loving organisms known as Achaeans. Grey and white materials within the lake bed are exposed lakebed sediments and salt crusts. The towns of Olancha and Lone Pine are delineated by the presence of green vegetation indicating a more constant availability of water. According to scientists, the present-day Owens Lake was part of a much larger lake and river system that existed during the Pleistocene Epoch (approximately 3 million to approximately 12,000 years ago) along the current northeastern border of California with Nevada. Meltwater from alpine glaciers in the Sierra Nevada filled the regional valleys of the Basin and Range to form several glacial lakes that were ancestral to the now-dry lakebeds (or playas) of Owens, Searles Lake, and China Lake. While Searles and China Lakes dried out due to regional changes to a hotter and drier climate over thousands of years, Owens Lake became desiccated largely due to the diversion of Owens River water in the early 20th century to serve the needs of the City of Los Angeles, CA located 266 kilometers to the south. Following complete desiccation of the lakebed in 1926, significant amounts of windblown dust were produced ? indeed, the term ?Keeler fog? was coined by residents of the now largely abandoned town on the eastern side of Owens Lake due to the dust. In addition to adverse health effects on local residents, dust from Owens Lake has been linked to visibility reduction in nearby national parks, forests, and wilderness areas. Recently, efforts to control dust evolution from the lakebed have been undertaken by the City of Los Angeles.
STS085-705-062 (7 - 19 August 1997) --- The Great Salt is one of the most saline inland bodies of water in the world and is the largest inland body of salt water in the Western Hemisphere. The lake is fed by three rivers (Bear, Weber and Jordon) and has no outlet. The water level varies with the amount of rainfall and evaporation in the basin. The distinct line across the center of the lake is the Lucin Cutoff. It is a 30 mile (48 kilometers), east-west causeway built in 1959 to support a rail line. The causeway connects the cities of Ogden and Lucin and affects the water level of the lake. Because the lake's main tributaries enter from the south, the water level of the southern section is several inches higher than that of the northern part. The Great Salt Lake's record high levels in the mid-1980's threatened the Lucin Cutoff, highways and sewage-treatment plants along the shore -- in 1987 pumps were installed that began draining some of the excess water into the Great Salt Lake Desert to the west. The resulting new body of water was called the Newfoundland Evaporation Basin -- it contains dissolved minerals, primarily sodium and chloride along with sulfate, magnesium, and potassium. The dissolved minerals, turbidity and microorganisms which can survive in saline water give the lake its varying colors. In this photo the north portion is dark red. The crew said that it looked like dirt when they first saw it. Crews can not remember the north portion ever looking so red -- it is usually a light blue color.
ISS007-E-09986 (11 July 2003) --- This view of Earth’s horizon was taken by an Expedition 7 crewmember onboard the International Space Station (ISS) while the Station was in orbit over Dodge City, Kansas. In the lower right is the Great Salt Lake. At the left side in the distance are the Sierra Nevada Mountains with elevations between 12,000 and 15,000 feet, and coastal California.
Most of the population of Utah lives just west of the Wasatch Mountains in the north central part of the state.
ISS041-E-067595 (6 Oct. 2014) --- This moonlit panorama was shot recently with a wide-angle lens by an Expedition 41 crew member aboard the International Space Station, as they looked southwest from a point over Nebraska. The wide-angle lens shows a huge swath of country that stretches from Portland, Oregon (right) to Phoenix, Arizona (left). The largest string of lights is the Ogden-Salt Lake City-Provo area (lower center) in Utah. The Los Angeles and San Francisco metropolitan regions, and the cities of the central valley of California (Bakersfield to Redding) stretch across the horizon. The green airglow layer always appears in night images. Moonlight shows the red tinge of the space station?s solar arrays top left. Moonlight emphasizes the broader-scale geological zones. Nevada?s short, dark, parallel mountain ranges of the basin and range geological province (center) contrast with the expanses of flat terrain of the Colorado Plateau (left) in Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The near-full moon even reveals the vast dry lake bed known as the Bonneville Salt Flats. The black line of the Sierra Nevada marks the edge of California?s well-lit central valley (directly below the San Francisco Bay area).
51J-143-126 (5 Oct. 1985) --- The vertical stabilizer of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis serves to partially frame this scene of Metropolitan Houston. Hold photo with vertical tail at top so that north will be at top. America's fourth largest city, with its radiating highway network, lies at the junction between the East Texas piney woods, containing lakes Conroe and Livingston (near top center and top right, respectively), and the coastal prairie, now largely farmland (left side of frame). The coast stretches from the left at Freeport and the mouth of the Brazos River, past Galveston and Texas City, and the circle of the High Island Salt Dome (clearly seen at lower right near the Bolivar Peninsula), to Port Arthur on the Neches River (far right). Patterns of muddy and clear water are particularly well-displayed in Galveston and Trinity Bays, as well as in the Gulf of Mexico. With a close look, the Harris County Domed Stadium (Astrodome) can be recognized on Houston's south side. The NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the Clear Lake City area are easily delineated some 25 miles southeast of downtown Houston. The scene was recorded on film by one of the STS-51J crewmembers using a handheld Hasselblad camera and 70mm film.
ISS01-E-5025 (November 2000) --- This nadir view of Alexandria, Egypt, was provided by a digital still camera image down linked from the International Space Station to flight controllers in Houston. Alexandria (Al Iskandariya) occupies a T-shaped peninsula and strip of land separating the Mediterranean from Lake Mariout. According to NASA scientists studying the Expedition One photo collection, the town was originally built upon a mole (stone breakwater) called Heptastadium, which joined the island of Pharos to the mainland. Since then, the scientists say, sedimentary deposits have added considerably to the width of the mole. Since 1905, when the city’s 370 thousand inhabitants lived in an area of about four square kilometers between the two harbors, the city (population 4 million) has grown beyond its medieval walls and now occupies an area of about 300 square kilometers. The Mahmudiya Canal, connecting Alexandria with the Nile, runs to the south of the city and, by a series of locks, enters the harbor of the principal port of Egypt (note ships). The reddish and ochre polygons west of Lake Mariout are salt-evaporation, chemical-storage, and water-treatment ponds within the coastal lagoon.
ISS023-E-028353 (26 April 2010) --- Central Andes Mountains, Salar de Arizaro, Argentina are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 23 crew member on the International Space Station. The high plains (3,000 to greater than 5,000 meters elevation, 13,000 to 19,000 feet) of the Andes Mountains, also known as the Puna, appear in the foreground of this photograph, with a line of young volcanoes facing the much lower Atacama Desert (1,000–2,000 meters elevation). Several large dry lakes, marked by light-toned salt crusts, occupy the basins between major thrust faults in the Puna. Salar de Arizaro (foreground) is the largest of the dry lakes in this view (salar means waterless salt flat in Spanish). This panorama was taken by a station crew member looking southeast across the South American continent when the ISS was almost directly over the Atacama Desert near Chile’s Pacific coast. The Atlantic Ocean coastline (River Plate where Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires is located) is dimly visible at top left. A striking geological and landscape contrast is visible at center which separates two distinct geological zones, namely the Puna and the Sierras Pampeanas. The Sierras Pampeanas Mountains are lower in elevation and have few young volcanoes, in contrast to the Puna. Sharp-crested ranges are separated by wide, low valleys in this region. The Salinas Grandes—ephemeral shallow salt lakes at top left (salina means salt lake in Spanish) — occupies one of these valleys. The general color change from reds and browns in the foreground to blues and greens in the upper part of the image reflects the major climatic regions, namely the deserts of the Atacama and Puna, versus the low grassy plains of central Argentina where rainfall is sufficient to promote lush prairie grass growth—known famously as the pampas in Argentina. The Salinas Grandes mark an intermediate semiarid region. What accounts for the changes in landscape? The geology of this part of the Andes is a result of the eastward subduction of the Nazca tectonic plate underneath South America. Investigations using seismic data suggest that the Puna is underlain by a steeply dipping sector of the subducting Nazca plate. The Sierras Pampeanas zone however, is underlain by a sector of the Nazca plate that is almost horizontal, possibly due to the subduction of a submarine mountain range known as the Juan Fernandez Ridge. In the simplest terms, ridges are topographic highs that are difficult to stuff down subduction zones, with profound effects on the volcanism and structures of the upper plate.
ISS017-E-013769 (19 Aug. 2008) --- Tunis, Tunisia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 17 crewmember on the International Space Station. The city of Tunis, capital of Tunisia, is a rapidly modernizing city located along the Mediterranean coast of northern Africa. Sharing much of its history with famous Carthage to the north, Tunis was also destroyed by Rome in approximately 146 BC. Tunis, however, was rebuilt by the Romans and became an important agricultural center. Modern Tunis serves as the administrative center for the whole of Tunisia, and as a commercial hub for trade in the northern part of the country. The urban area of Tunis is located on a flat coastal plain, and is distinguished in this view from the surrounding desert by the pattern of grey to tan buildings and darker street grid. The city is bordered by an evaporating saline lake to the northeast known as Sebkhet Arina (upper left) -- evaporite minerals such as halite (table salt) and gypsum produce the white deposits surrounding the darker lake center where there is more moisture. To the southeast of the city is Lake Tunis, a lagoon that has been significantly altered by human activities -- such as closing off water exchange with the Mediterranean Sea - dating back to Roman times. The general lack of water circulation and input of nutrients from sewage has lead to the establishment of marine worm reefs, and occasional fish kills. The western urban-rural fringe is defined by a range of low hills (lower left); dark green agricultural fields are visible on the western side of these hills.
STS112-708-002 (7-18 October 2002) --- This image, photographed from the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis, covers parts of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho. The Front Range of the Rockies is the dark range crossing the bottom of the view, with Denver and neighboring cities (grays) situated in the gentle embayment of the mountains (bottom center of the view). Great Salt Lake in Utah appears as two colors of blue top left, with the snow-covered Uinta Mountains just below, in this northwesterly view. Most of the view encompasses the brown plains of western Wyoming (center) and the cluster of mountains around Yellowstone (top center, top right, with snow). Beyond the brown Snake River Plain, black rocks of the Sawtooth Mountains and neighboring ranges of central Idaho appear top center.
AS07-07-1826 (17 Oct. 1968) --- This view of South America was photographed from the Apollo 7 spacecraft during its 81st revolution of Earth from an altitude of 120 nautical miles. The port city of Antofagasta, Chile, is located in the half-moon shaped bay in the lower left portion of the picture. Beyond the coast is the Andean peak of Llullaillaco Volcano which rises 22,000 feet above sea level. At left center is the Chuquicamata copper mines located near Coloma. At the center of the photo, behind the large salt lake and atop a 19,000 foot high volcano, the countries of Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile meet at a common point. Below the clouds in the upper portion of the photo are the Great Plains known as the Gran Chaco.
OSIRIS-REx Project Scientist, Dr. Jason Dworkin of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, presents a mission update inside the Mission Briefing Room of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 11, 2023. Launched seven years ago, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is set to return a material sample from asteroid Bennu on Sept. 24, 2023, when the sample return capsule separates from the spacecraft and lands by parachute at the Utah Test and Training Range/Dugway Proving Ground, southwest of Salt Lake City. OSIRIS-REx is the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, retrieve at least two ounces of surface material, and return it to Earth for study.
STS060-90-028 (3-11 Feb 1994) --- This view is centered over Rome and covers approximately 3,600 square miles. Anzio, the site of the January 22, 1944, Allied landing in Central Italy, is on the coast at the lower left. The coastal protuberance near the center is Ostia. This Roman Empire port on the Tiber River silted in and was covered over. It is now an archeological site and a tourist attraction. Southeast of the mouth of the Tiber is the Pontine Marsh. These marshlands were drained in the 1930's and have been converted to farmland. Volcanism formed the land in the region. It is evidenced in the circular caldera lakes visible. Castel Gandolfo, part of the Papal State, is on Lake Albano toward the bottom of the frame. Rome was founded during the Bronze Age on a river crossing. The road from the coast along the river was the main route for the early salt trade. The city became the capital of modern Italy in 1861. It has undergone explosive growth since World War II and now has a population of over three million people. Leonardo da Vinci (Fiumicino) Airport, the main international airport, is visible near the coast north of the Tiber River.
ISS022-E-019513 (4 Jan. 2010) --- The Rio Negro floodplain in Patagonia, Argentina is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member on the International Space Station. The Rio Negro is recognizable by astronaut crews from orbit as one of the most meandering rivers in South America. This is well illustrated in this view, where the entire river floodplain (approximately 10 kilometers wide) is covered with curved relics of channels known as meander scars. The main channel of the river, flowing south at this point?60 kilometers south of the city of Choele Choel (not shown)?appears in partial sun glint at right. Sun glint occurs when light is reflected off a water surface directly back towards the viewer, imparting a silvery sheen to those areas. When meander scars contain water they are known as oxbow lakes, some of which are also highlighted by sun glint in the image. Meander scars show the numerous past positions of river bends, produced as the river snaked across the plain in the very recent geological past. The Rio Negro is a dramatic example of how mobile a river can be. The orange tint to the water in one of the oxbow lakes (center) could result from orange salt-loving algae. Their appearance here would be unusual since floodplain lakes are usually too fresh for algae blooms. But an explanation may lie in the location of the Rio Negro on the margin of Argentina?s arid Patagonian region with annual rainfall less than 12 inches (300 mm). Evaporation in this cloudless region could be high enough for some lakes to become salty. The Rio Negro flows generally southeast from the Andes Mts. to the Atlantic Ocean. Its floodplain supports the biggest pear- and apple-growing region of Argentina. Rectangular farm boundaries can be seen at bottom center. The river also hosts the world?s longest kayak regatta (653 kilometers), which lasts six days.
STS072-727-059 (11-20 Jan. 1996) --- Plains of the Orange Free State, South Africa are featured in this 70mm frame exposed from the Space Shuttle Endeavour. If the photograph is oriented with the largest clouds at the top edge, so that the cloud shadows fall to the upper right of each cloud, then north is to the top. The Vaal River flows along the top and through the upper left of the photograph; the reservoir of the Bloemhofdam on the Sand River can be seen between clouds at the upper right of the photograph. Kimberley can be seen as a gray smudge southeast of a contorted set of bends in the Vaal river (upper left center). With high magnification four dark dots, large open-pit mine shafts, can be seen within the gray smudge of the city. Kimberley, the capital of Northern Cape Province, was founded in 1878 after the discovery of diamonds in 1969 - 71, and reached by railway in 1885. Diamond mining and gem cutting remain prominent in the economy. The reddish soil and scattered salt pans (playa lakes) across the plateau suggest the semi-arid climate, suitable for cattle ranching. Reservoirs on most streams now provide water for the towns as well as irrigation for agriculture.
ISS040-E-027042 (30 June 2014) --- Kulunda Steppe, Siberia in central Russia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 40 crew member on the International Space Station. The crew on the station called down to Houston to ask for an explanation of this strange pattern of spikes crossing the Kulunda Steppe in central Russia. The ?spikes? are a prominent visual feature (center) visible from the top of the ISS orbit (approximately 52 degrees north), the highest latitude flown over by the spacecraft. In fact these linear zones are gentle folds in the surface rocks of the area, lying slightly lower than the surrounding lighter-toned agricultural lands. The dark zones are forested with pines and dotted with salt-rich lakes. The image width (left to right edge) represents more than 300 kilometers ground distance, and the forested spikes are nearly that length. The green floodplain of the famous Ob River (right) is the westernmost of Siberia?s three great rivers (the others being the Yenisei and Lena). The Ob flows north (towards the top of the image) for another 2,000 kilometers to the Arctic Ocean. The city of Barnaul (population 612,000), a major center of industry, trade and culture in Siberia, lies on the banks of the river with riverboat, air and rail links to the rest of the country. A broader, winter image of the Kulunda geology and the Ob River can be seen here.
SL3-83-0152 (July-September 1973) --- A near vertical view of the metropolitan Detroit, Michigan area is seen in this Skylab 3 Earth Resources Experiments Package S190-B (five-inch Earth terrain camera) photograph taken from the Skylab space station in Earth orbit. The 25-mile long Detroit River drains the smaller body of water (Lake St. Clair) and flows southwestward separating Detroit from Windsor, Ontario, and empties into Lake Erie. The Detroit River handles a great deal of Great Lakes barge and ship traffic. Major streets and thoroughfares radiating from the city are clearly visible. Fighting Island is the highly reflective, white area located almost in the center of the picture. This high reflectivity is caused by the functional use of the island-disposal ponds for chemical salts. Sedimentation and/or pollution patterns in the area provide interesting visual phenomena for speculation and analysis. Distinct and rather unique cultivated field patterns can be observed south and east of Windsor, Ontario. This is a direct result of an English survey and land tenure system which was utilized when the area was settled. New areas of residential development are fairly easy to differentiate from older, established residential areas. Vegetation and extent of area coverage can be determined. The Oakland County Planning Commission and the Federal Bureau of Outdoor Recreation working closely with Irv Sattinger of the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (University of Michigan) are presently processing and analyzing photographic and Multispectral scanner data to determine its usefulness for recreation and open space site studies for this area. Photo credit: NASA
ISS015-E-29867 (20 Sept. 2007) --- Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 15 crewmember on the International Space Station. The Bingham Canyon Mine (center) located approximately 32 kilometers to the southeast of Salt Lake City, UT is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, measuring over 4 kilometers wide and 1,200 meters deep. The mine exploits a porphyry copper, a type of geological structure formed by crystal-rich magma moving upwards through pre-existing rock layers. As the magma cools and crystallizes (forming an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix, known as a porphyry), hot fluids circulate through the magma and surrounding rocks via fractures. This process of hydrothermal alteration typically forms copper-bearing and other minerals in spatial patterns that a geologist recognizes as a potential porphyry copper deposit. Parallel benches (stepped terraces), visible along the western pit face (center left), range from 16 to 25 meters high - these provide access for equipment to work the rock face, as well as maintaining stability of the sloping pit walls. A dark, larger roadway is also visible directly below the benches. Brown to gray, flat topped hills of gangue (waste rock) surround the pit, and are thrown into sharp relief by shadows and the oblique viewing angle of this image. Leachate reservoirs associated with ore processing are visible to the south of the city of Bingham Canyon, UT (right).