ISS Earth Observatory: Saudi At Night
Sep 15, 2013Southwestern Saudi Arabia At Night
Identification
Mission: ISS036 Roll: E Frame: 25802 Mission ID on the Film or image: ISS036
Country or Geographic Name: SAUDI ARABIA
Features: JEDDAH AT NIGHT,MECCA AT NIGHT,ABHA AT NIGHT,KHAMIS MUSHAIT AT NIGHT
Center Point Latitude: 19.0 Center Point Longitude: 42.5 (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude)
Stereo: ** (Yes indicates there is an adjacent picture of the same area)
ONC Map ID: ** JNC Map ID: **
Camera
Camera Tilt: 42
Camera Focal Length: 50mm
Camera: N5: Nikon D3S
Film: 4256E : 4256 x 2832 pixel CMOS sensor, 36.0mm x 23.9mm, total pixels: 12.87 million, Nikon FX format.
Quality
Film Exposure: **
Percentage of Cloud Cover: **25 (11-25)
Nadir
Date: 20130726 (YYYYMMDD)GMT Time: 194353 (HHMMSS)
Nadir Point Latitude: 16.9, Longitude: 45.1 (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude)
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: Northwest
Sun Azimuth: 330 (Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point)
Spacecraft Altitude: 225 nautical miles (0 km)
Sun Elevation Angle: -49 (Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point)
Orbit Number: **
Captions
Southwestern Saudi Arabia at Night
This striking image of the southwestern Saudi Arabia coastline was taken by astronauts on board the International Space Station. In addition to city lights, patchy cloud cover partially obscures and blurs city lights, especially in the vicinity of Khamis Mushait and Abha.
While much of the country is lightly populated desert — and relatively dark at night due to lack of city and roadway lights — the southwestern coastal region has more moderate climate and several large cities. Three brightly lit urban centers are visible at image top left; Jeddah, Mecca, and Taif. Jeddah is the gateway city for Islamic pilgrims going to nearby Mecca (a religious journey known as the hajj). Taif to the east is located on the slopes of the Sarawat Mountains, and provides a summer retreat for the Saudi government from the desert heat of the capital city of Riyadh.
Bright yellow-orange lighting marks highways that parallel the trend of the Asir Mountains at image center, connecting Mecca to the resort cities of Al Bahah and Abha (image lower right). Smaller roadways, lit with blue lights, extend to the west to small cities along the Red Sea coastline. The bright yellow-orange glow of the city of Abha is matched by that of the city of Khamis Mushait (or Khamis Mushayt) to the northeast. The brightly lit ribbon of highway continues onward towards other large cities to the south (Jazan, not shown) and southeast (Najran, not shown).
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