Day and Night over Europe and North Africa

This photograph was taken by the crew of the Columbia space shuttle during its last mission on a cloudless day.

It shows part of Europe, North Africa and the North Atlantic ocean with the sun setting from east to west. The right side of the photograph is already nightfall. The bright dots are the cities' lights as can be seen in Paris, Amsterdam and Rome. London, Lisbon and Madrid are still basking in daylight.

The sun is still shining over the Strait of Gibraltar while the Mediterranean Sea is already
covered in darkness.

Towards the left, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you can see the Azores Islands with the Madeira islands slightly below them towards the right. Further down are the Canary Islands and further down south again, near to the western tip of Africa are the Cape Verde Islands.

The Sahara Desert is clearly visible at the bottom of the photograph. The vast expanse of the Sahara Desert can be seen clearly here both in daylight and nightfall.

Greenland is in the top left hand corner of the photograph. It is totally frozen.