Night and Day

The crew on board the Columbia took this picture during its last mission, on a cloudless day: Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Note that it's still daylight in Dublin, London, Lisbon, and Madrid, while the lights are already on in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona (the bright dots you see are the cities’ lights).



The top part of Africa is the Sahara Desert. It is huge and can be seen clearly both during day time and night time.

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.

To the left, on top, is Greenland, totally frozen.