Africa Images | Universe Today

Written by Fraser Cain

Here are some Africa images… from space!

This is an image of Africa's Saharan desert, on the border between Algeria and Libya. You can see three large rocky regions pushing up from the sandy desert, and the remnants of ancient river beds. This photograph was taken by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on board NASA's Terra satellite.

This is an image of South Africa's Cape Town captured from space. The city of 1.9 million people is in between that large bay (False Bay) and another bay down the coast. This photo was taken by astronauts on board the space shuttle mission STS-97.

This is an image of the Aswan High Dam, on the Nile River. It was created in 1971, and blocked up the Nile creating Lake Nasser, one of the world's largest artificial lakes. The dam provides electricity and flood control of the Nile river which used to overwhelm its banks every year.

This is a perspective image of Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. If you want to see wildlife in Africa, this is the place to go. In this NASA image, you can see how plate tectonics, volcanism and erosion have had their impact on the region.

Here's an image of Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River in Africa; one of the most famous tourist sites on the continent. And for good reason. This is the point where the Zambezi River pours 130 meters off a huge cliff into the gorge below.

We've written many articles about Africa for Universe Today. Here's an article about the discovery of a meteorite in Africa, and here's an article about how NASA satellites will help with Africa disaster relief.

If you'd like more info on Earth, check out NASA's World Book on Earth. And here's a link to NASA's Earth Observatory.

We've also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about planet Earth. Listen here, Episode 51: Earth.

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