ISS053-E-50422
| NASA Photo ID | ISS053-E-50422 |
| Focal Length | 24mm |
| Date taken | 2017.09.28 |
| Time taken | 00:10:11 GMT |
4928 x 3280 pixels 720 x 480 pixels 150 x 100 pixels 4928 x 3280 pixels 640 x 426 pixels
Photo center point: 32.0° N, 35.0° E
Photo center point by machine learning:
Country or Geographic Name: | ISRAEL |
Features: | PAN-LEVANT, NILE DELTA, S. TURKEY AT NIGHT |
| Features Found Using Machine Learning: | PAN- |
Cloud Cover Percentage: | 0 (no clouds present) |
Sun Elevation Angle: | -47° |
Sun Azimuth: | 59° |
Camera: | Nikon D4 Electronic Still Camera |
Focal Length: | 24mm |
Camera Tilt: | High Oblique |
Format: | 4928E: 4928 x 3280 pixel CMOS sensor, 36.0mm x 23.9mm, total pixels: 16.6 million, Nikon FX format |
Film Exposure: | |
| Additional Information | |
| Width | Height | Annotated | Cropped | Purpose | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4928 pixels | 3280 pixels | No | No | Download Image | |
| 720 pixels | 480 pixels | Yes | No | Download Image | |
| 150 pixels | 100 pixels | Yes | No | NASA's Earth Observatory web site | Download Image |
| 4928 pixels | 3280 pixels | No | No | Download Image | |
| 640 pixels | 426 pixels | No | No | Download Image |
This photograph, taken from the International Space Station (ISS), shows the sweep of the coastline of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The cluster of lights at image center includes the major population centers of the Levant. The brightest lights are the cities of Tel Aviv in Israel, Amman in Jordan, and Beirut in Lebanon.
Other light clusters include the Nile Delta in Egypt, and a nearby thin string of lights revealing the Suez Canal. The more scattered lights of the Turkish coastline and the country's mountainous interior arc from top left to top center.
Populations are small in the deserts of the Middle East, so few lights appear in vast portions of Saudi Arabia (right), Syria (top center) and Iraq (top right). The largest population centers cluster where water is available, especially along the great rivers of the region, the Tigris and Euphrates. In Iraq, the capital city Baghdad stands as the brightest spot where these rivers meet.
Images such as this also show the hints of conflict. In Syria, darkness now reigns along a 300-kilometer stretch where lights use to line the Euphrates River in the east of the country. This has left most of eastern Syria in the dark.
