Picture from the last Colombia mision.

I don't know if this wasn't already posted ....
Although the Colombia ended tragically, pics like this one make me want to be astronaut or at least travel to the space .

Beautifull, isn't it?

[edit on 21-2-2005 by longbow]

Yep - makes you wonder why we have to fight each other all the time..

Lol, I see Belgium and Holland are as bright as ever in those shots

Originally posted by thematrix
Lol, I see Belgium and Holland are as bright as ever in those shots

Yes, pretty much urbanized, don't you think? But Nigeria(or Liberia) is suprisingly bright too.

'Tis quite beautiful, longbow.

It's also amazing that you can see the mid-Atlantic ridge from this altitude.

P.S. The bright spot on the African continent is the coast of Nigeria.

Liberia is still in the sunlit part of the Earth.

Everytime I look at pictures of the Earth from space, I can't help but to think, that no matter how beautiful the pictures are, there is an awful lot of turmoil, killings and fighting happening on it's surface.

The serene beauty is just a deception.

Hmm I wonder why there arent any lights in Croatia. Must have been party time

I don't recall ever seeing the Mid Atlantic Ridge from space, also seamounts
are clearly visible.... Thought the surface of the ocean would reflect most of
the light back. Pretty incredible to see the ocean floor and shelves. The water
must be extremely clear...

Either that or this is not really a picture but rather a model.

Plus the Grey Line indicates Summer in the Northern Hemisphere when
I though Columbia flew in Winter. Pretty Light out in Northern Norway.

[edit on 21-2-2005 by TheHorseChestnut]

All I was going to ask was 'where's the weather gone?'

Exactly.

This is cleary a Relief map or globe with a light shined on it... I got one
almost identical to that on my wall to track the Grey Line terminator for
Amateur Radio.

Originally posted by TheHorseChestnut
I don't recall ever seeing the Mid Atlantic Ridge from space, also seamounts
are clearly visible.... Thought the surface of the ocean would reflect most of
the light back. Pretty incredible to see the ocean floor and shelves. The water
must be extremely clear...

Either that or this is not really a picture but rather a model.

Plus the Grey Line indicates Summer in the Northern Hemisphere when
I though Columbia flew in Winter. Pretty Light out in Northern Norway.

[edit on 21-2-2005 by TheHorseChestnut]

It's amazin' what one can concoct in Photoshop!

Now imagine a bunch of mushroom clouds growing out of them lit areas! Awesome!!!

This wasnt taken from the last Columbia mission...

I've read about it and it's a combination of atleast 2-3 real pictures (day/night/topographical/ect). I'll go try and find accurate info on it..

here's a pic on ASOTD that is very similar




Astronomy Picture of the Day

[edit on 21-2-2005 by Calculon386]

This is from www.freemaninstitute.com...

-------------------- Fantastic photograph? Yes, but, according to snopes.com we discovered...

The contradictory explanations of this photograph's origins given in the accompanying text are the first clue that something's amiss here -- this image can't have been both "taken by the crew on board the Columbia" and "taken via satellite."

Actually, the notation about this image's having been "taken by the crew on board the Columbia during its last mission" was added only after the fatal break-up of the Space Shuttle Columbia upon its re-entry on 1 February 2003. Well before then, this picture had been circulating as a photograph "taken via satellite, on a cloudless day."

Although this image does accurately depict the landforms described and the positioning of lighted cities to the right of the day-night terminator line, it doesn't represent an actual Earth view one might see from space. This photograph is a digital composite formed by merging multiple images from different sources (primarily satellites).

I'll go one step further and say this is not taken from space at all rather
a map with star light superimpossed on the map or holes poked in the
maps surface to simulate artificial light.

If this is from space, it is at too high an elevation to be taken from an
orbiting space shuttle or Space Station.. and the terminator line indicates
summer in the Northern hemisphere as Greenland is clearly, totally
illuminated which precludes the shuttle Columbia anyway. Also, there is
no visible light sattelite that I know of that can photograph the terrain
of the ocean floor.

Clearly a fake on many different levels

I couldn't belive the ocean would be that clear to see the topgraphical features from orbit.

Nice pic, but clearly faked in more then one way

it does look a little fake...But its still cool, I have never seen a picture from space where half is daylight and half is nightime.

I have just found it on the web, so I don't know for sure if it is true, in fact I never thought about it.