Dubai's Island Version of the World, As Seen from Space

By Nancy Atkinson - April 11, 2012 at 2:43 PM UTC | Planetary Science

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Usually astronauts have to go much farther away than low Earth orbit to see the entire world in one view, but The World Islands resorts in Dubai provides a unique -- if not manufactured -- view of Earth's continents from space.

The World Islands

are a collection of man-made islands shaped into the continents of the world, and ultimately will consist of 300 small private artificial islands divided into four categories - private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands.

To the east is another man-made archipelago named The Palm, for obvious reasons, and another island chain is due to be built between these reclaimed lands which will be called The Universe.

ESA astronaut André Kuipers took this image on April 10, 2012 during his long duration mission on the International Space Station. See more of his images at the

ESA FLickr page.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com