View of Melbourne, Australia as seen from Skylab space station

SL4-137-3578 (13 Dec. 1973) --- A near vertical view of the Melbourne, State of Victoria, Australia area as seen from the Skylab space station in Earth orbit. Note sunglint. This picture was taken by one of the Skylab 4 crewmen using a hand-held 70mm Hasselblad camera. Included in this view are Port Phillip Bay, Ninety-Mile Beach and the Australian Alps. In general, sunglint allows best viewing of ocean surface features. Compare this view with that of SL4-137-3579 which is not in sunglint. Colors are not easy to distinguish in sunglint, but are without it. There are surface features visible in the first photograph which are not visible in the second. Similarly, some water colors are evident in the second photograph which are not seen in the first. Port Phillip is the best sample. The bay opens to the south. Photo credit: NASA