Return to Earth From Space Home
Earth from Space logo Image Information Earth from Space logo

Display a Screen Layout for Printing

IMAGE: gray corner       IMAGE: gray corner
  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: ISS038-E-16335 Date: Dec. 2013
Geographic Region: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Feature: ABU DHABI, DUBAI AT NIGHT

Ordering information for space photography
 
IMAGE: gray corner     IMAGE: gray corner

Image: gray corner     Image: gray corner
  View Low-Resolution Image  
  United Arab Emirates, Persian Gulf, At Night

Geographers like night images of cities because you see immediately so much about the human landscape--things that are difficult or impossible to see in day images. You see where the cities are located and their shape; the brightest light clusters frequently indicate the city centers. In large field of view images, such as this astronaut photograph of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the International Space Station (ISS), you can also see cities' position relative to one another and their relative size. Here the largest cluster of lights is the conurbation ("joined cities") of Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman (population 3.25 million), with its smaller neighbor Dubai (population 2.1 million).

These cities front onto the Persian Gulf (also known as the Arabian Gulf) where the city lights are cut off abruptly at the coastline. The bright city centers are located at the coast showing that sea trade is important (and has been important) in the growth of these cities. Smaller cities are Al Ain (population 518,000), the fourth largest city in the UAE, and Fujairah (population 152,000). Major highways join the cities in a brightly lit network, and a faint peppering of lights offshore shows the relatively young oil and gas platforms on either side of the Musandam Peninsula (image left).

Despite being taken at night, the spike of the Musandam Peninsula is easy to imagine at the south end of the Persian Gulf. The biggest cities in the UAE are Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Muscat, the capital city of the neighboring country of Oman, appears image top center. By contrast, the almost unpopulated Musandam Peninsula shows very few lights.
 
Image: gray corner     Image: gray corner

Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 251k
Mission: ISS038  
Roll - Frame: E - 16335
Geographical Name: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES  
Features: ABU DHABI, DUBAI AT NIGHT  
Center Lat x Lon: 24.7N x 55.8E
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera: N5
 
Camera Tilt: 54   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 85  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: E   The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West
Stereo?:   Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't
Orbit Number:  
 
Date: 20131211   YYYYMMDD
Time: 221645   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 25.4N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 50.7E  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 90   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 221   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: -66   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: PENINSULA  
Water Views: GULF  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views:  
City Views: ABU DHABI, DUBAI, MUSCAT  
Photo is not associated with any sequences


NASA
Home Page
JSC
Home Page
JSC Digital
Image Collection
Earth Science &
Remote Sensing

NASA meatball logo
This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.
ESRS logo