The photograph
attached was taken by the crew on board the Columbia, during its last mission,
on a cloudless day. The picture is of Europe and Africa
when the sun is setting. Half
of the picture is in night. The bright dots you see are the cities'
lights.
The top part of Africa is the Sahara
Desert.
Note that the lights are already on in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona, and that's
it's still daylight in Dublin, London, Lisbon, and Madrid.
The sun is still shining on the Strait
of Gibraltar. The
Mediterranean Sea
is already in darkness.
In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you can see the Azores
Islands; below them to the right are
the Madeira Islands; a bit below are the Canary Islands; and further South,
close to the farthest western point of Africa, are the Cape Verde
Islands.
Note that the Sahara
is huge and can be seen clearly both during
day
time and night time.
To the left, on top, is Greenland, totally frozen.