STS108-720-32
NASA Photo ID | STS108-720-32 |
Focal Length | 110mm |
Date taken | 2001.12.13 |
Time taken | 21:40:53 GMT |
Resolutions offered for this image:
540 x 540 pixels 1031 x 1024 pixels 2063 x 2048 pixels 4127 x 4096 pixels 515 x 512 pixels 1279 x 1301 pixels 1301 x 1279 pixels 1265 x 1232 pixels 400 x 400 pixels
540 x 540 pixels 1031 x 1024 pixels 2063 x 2048 pixels 4127 x 4096 pixels 515 x 512 pixels 1279 x 1301 pixels 1301 x 1279 pixels 1265 x 1232 pixels 400 x 400 pixels
Cloud masks available for this image:
Country or Geographic Name: | USA-NEW MEXICO |
Features: | SPANISH PEAKS, SNOW |
Features Found Using Machine Learning: | |
Cloud Cover Percentage: | 10 (1-10)% |
Sun Elevation Angle: | 21° |
Sun Azimuth: | 217° |
Camera: | Hasselblad |
Focal Length: | 110mm |
Camera Tilt: | 50 degrees |
Format: | 5069: Kodak Elite 100S, E6 Reversal, Replaces Lumiere, Warmer in tone vs. Lumiere |
Film Exposure: | |
Additional Information | |
Width | Height | Annotated | Cropped | Purpose | Links |
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540 pixels | 540 pixels | Yes | Yes | Earth From Space collection | Download Image |
1031 pixels | 1024 pixels | No | No | Download Image | |
2063 pixels | 2048 pixels | No | No | Download Image | |
4127 pixels | 4096 pixels | No | No | Download Image | |
515 pixels | 512 pixels | No | No | Download Image | |
1279 pixels | 1301 pixels | No | Photographic Highlights | Download Image | |
1301 pixels | 1279 pixels | No | No | Download Image | |
1265 pixels | 1232 pixels | No | No | Download Image | |
400 pixels | 400 pixels | Yes | Photographic Highlights | Download Image |
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Image Caption: The Spanish Peaks, on the eastern flank of the Sangre de Cristo range, abruptly rise 7,000 feet above the western Great Plains. Settlers, treasure hunters, trappers, gold and silver miners have long sighted on these prominent landmarks along the Taos branch of the Santa Fe trail. Well before the westward migration, the mountains figured in the legends and history of the Ute, Apache, Comanche, and earlier tribes. "Las Cumbres Espanolas" are also mentioned in chronicles of exploration by Spaniards including Ulibarri in 1706 and later by de Anza, who eventually founded San Francisco (California).
This exceptional view (STS108-720-32), captured by the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS108, portrays the Spanish Peaks in the context of the southern Rocky Mountains. Uplift of the Sangre de Cristo began about 75 million years ago and produced the long north-trending ridges of faulted and folded rock to the west of the paired peaks. After uplift had ceased (~26 to 22 million years ago), the large masses of igneous rock (granite, granodiorite, syenodiorite) that form the Peaks were emplaced (Penn, 1995-2001). East and West Spanish Peaks are "stocks"--bodies of molten rock that intruded sedimentary layers, cooled and solidified, and were later exposed by erosion. East Peak (E), at 12,708 ft is almost circular and is about 5 1/2 miles long by 3 miles wide, while West Peak (W), at 13,623 ft is roughly 2 3/4 miles long by 1 3/4 miles wide.
Great dikes--long stone walls--radiate outward from the mountains like spokes of a wheel, a prominent one forms a broad arc northeast of East Spanish Peak. As the molten rock rose, it forced its way into vertical cracks and joints in the sedimentary strata; the less resistant material was then eroded away, leaving walls of hard rock from 1 foot to 100 feet wide, up to 100 feet high, and as long as 14 miles. Dikes trending almost east-west are also common in the region.
This exceptional view (STS108-720-32), captured by the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS108, portrays the Spanish Peaks in the context of the southern Rocky Mountains. Uplift of the Sangre de Cristo began about 75 million years ago and produced the long north-trending ridges of faulted and folded rock to the west of the paired peaks. After uplift had ceased (~26 to 22 million years ago), the large masses of igneous rock (granite, granodiorite, syenodiorite) that form the Peaks were emplaced (Penn, 1995-2001). East and West Spanish Peaks are "stocks"--bodies of molten rock that intruded sedimentary layers, cooled and solidified, and were later exposed by erosion. East Peak (E), at 12,708 ft is almost circular and is about 5 1/2 miles long by 3 miles wide, while West Peak (W), at 13,623 ft is roughly 2 3/4 miles long by 1 3/4 miles wide.
Great dikes--long stone walls--radiate outward from the mountains like spokes of a wheel, a prominent one forms a broad arc northeast of East Spanish Peak. As the molten rock rose, it forced its way into vertical cracks and joints in the sedimentary strata; the less resistant material was then eroded away, leaving walls of hard rock from 1 foot to 100 feet wide, up to 100 feet high, and as long as 14 miles. Dikes trending almost east-west are also common in the region.