THIS PHOTO IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. BE SURE TO READ THE TEXT BELOW TO HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT YOU ARE VIEWING. ALSO, ENLARGE IT FOR VIEWING CLOSER UP. IT BOGGLES THE MIND! IT IS HISTORIC TOO AS THIS IS THE LAST MISSION FOR COLUMBIA.

The
photograph attached was taken by the crew on board the Columbia during
its
last mission, on a cloudless day. The picture is of Europe and Africa
when
the sun is setting. Half of the picture is in night. The bright dots
you
see are the cities lights. The top part of Africa is the Sahara Desert.
Note
that the lights are already on in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona, and
that's
it's still daylight in Dublin,
London,
Lisbon, and
Madrid.
The sun is still
shining
on the Strait of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean Sea is already in
darkness.
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. Note that the Sahara is huge and can be seen
clearly
both during Daytime and night time. To the left, on top, is
Greenland,
totally frozen.