Aerial and Satellite Gallery

India at night, satellite image

India at night, satellite view. This image is a composite showing the change in illumination over India from 1992-2003. Satellite data from 2003 is coloured red, 1998 is coloured green and 1992 is blue. The three data sets are composited to form the image. Nighttime lights on the map that are white are lights that were present throughout the entire period. Areas that are marked by red have only appeared in 2003. Areas coloured green and blue were only present in 1998 and 1992 respectively but are no longer visible. This image was created by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, USA.
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© NOAA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Eastern Himalayas, satellite image

Eastern Himalayas, satellite image. North is at top. Snow is white, vegetation is red, barren areas are light blue and water is dark blue. This is a region of the eastern Himalayas, in China, north-east of Bhutan. The landscape consists of soaring mountains, with snow-capped peaks and vegetation on the lower slopes. Major rivers run through the valleys, fed by glacial meltwater. The barren areas (light blue) are where sediment has been deposited by the rivers. The area shown in this image is around 60 kilometres wide. The image data includes infrared wavelengths, and was obtained on 17 February 2002, using the ASTER sensor on the Terra satellite

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Meteor crater, Arizona

Meteor Crater. Aerial view of Meteor Crater, near Winslow in northeast Arizona, USA. It is also called the Barringer Crater, after the mining engineer who first suggested that it was formed by a meteor impact. It is about 50, 000 years old and is about 200 metres deep and 800 metres across. Several attempts to mine the iron-rich material of the meteor were made before a visitor centre was built in the 1960's. Two new minerals - coesite and stishovite - were identified here; both are forms of silica created at high temperatures and pressures. In recent years the crater has been used for astronaut training & studies in planet comparison

© DAVID PARKER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY