Space Station Photo Levant at Night, NASA Card

Alternating clusters of light and darkness show where civilisation has carved out a place alongside and amidst the deserts. This photograph, taken from the International Space Station (ISS), shows the sweep of the coastline of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The cluster of lights at image centre includes the major population centres of the Levant. The brightest lights are the cities of Tel Aviv in Israel, Amman in Jordan, and Beirut in Lebanon. Other light clusters include the Nile Delta in Egypt, and a nearby thin string of lights revealing the Suez Canal. The more scattered lights of the Turkish coastline and the country’s mountainous interior arc from top left to top centre. Populations are small in the deserts of the Middle East, so few lights appear in vast portions of Saudi Arabia (right), Syria (top centre) and Iraq (top right). The largest population centres cluster where water is available, especially along the great rivers of the region, the Tigris and Euphrates. In Iraq, the capital city Baghdad stands as the brightest spot where these rivers meet. Image of the Day for December 11, 2017 Instrument: ISS — Digital Camera Appears in these Collections: Astronaut Photography Earth at Night NASA https://www.zazzle.com/pub/product?dz=e35f14a4-b7be-4f19-900a-3a169981d1d2&istmp=true&pt=zazzle_flatgreetingcard&tool=z3&view=113335724526596936