This pair of images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite show the development of the archipelago known as “The World.” The group of manmade islands is arranged to resemble a map of the world.
Published Mar 26, 2009
Mt. Everest is the highest (29,035 feet, 8850 meters) mountain in the world. This detailed look at Mt. Everest and Lhotse is part of a more extensive photograph of the central Himalaya taken in October 1993 that is one of the best views of the mountain captured by astronauts to date.
Published Feb 4, 2001
Myths about these Australian islands seem to provide an ancient explanation for sea level rise.
Published Dec 27, 2019
The Dry Tortugas are a group of islands located approximately 75 miles west of Key West, Florida; they form the western end of the Florida Keys in the Gulf of Mexico. This astronaut photograph highlights three islands in the group: Bush Key, Hospital Key, and Garden Key, which is the site of Fort Jefferson, a Civil War-era fort.
Published Aug 18, 2008
In one frame International Space Station astronauts were able to capture the evolution of fringing reefs to atolls. As with the Hawaiian Islands, these volcanic hot spot islands become progressively older to the northwest. As these islands move away from their magma sources they erode and subside.
Published Feb 16, 2003
Lakshadweep’s coral atolls glow iridescent blue-green in this natural-color scene from February 2012.
Published Apr 15, 2012
Crews aboard the International Space Station often look for signs of human activity along the coastlines of the Persian Gulf, where a growing Middle Eastern population has been moving.
Published Dec 28, 2015
Barrier islands are found along the edge of every continent except Antarctica, and in 2011 scientists and naturalists are still finding new ones, including this chain along the equatorial coast of Brazil.
Published Jun 3, 2011
This approximately true-color image shows part of the Turks and Caicos Islands archipelago, observed September 18, 2001.
Published Apr 17, 2009
This astronaut photo from January 6, 2009, shows giant kelp beds in the waters surrounding Mac Murdo and Howe Islands—2 of the 300 islands that make up the Kerguélen Archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean.
Published Mar 2, 2009
