The Nile Delta in Egypt, acquired by Proba-V on 24 March 2014.
Celebrating one year since the miniature Proba-V satellite was launched from French Guiana in the early hours of 7 May 2013.
The 'V' stands for 'vegetation': the satellite was designed to provide a clear picture of the world’s plants so their health can be easily monitored. This information can also be used for day-by-day tracking of extreme weather, alerting authorities to crop failures, monitoring inland water resources and tracing the steady spread of deserts and deforestation.
See our gallery for more images from Proba-V's first year of operation: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Proba-V/Highlights/Happy_Birthday_Proba-V
Image credit: ESA/VITO
This night-time image of the Nile River running into the delta that ends in the Mediterranean Sea clearly shows Egypt’s capital city, Cairo, and its satellite cities. The image taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station shows how humans have colonized our planet over the ages.
To the left is 6th of October City that was established in 1979. The modern city reveals itself by the squarer lines compared to the more organic Cairo that evolved over thousands of years of human settlement. The regular block of light above and to the right of 6th of October City is Sheikh Zayed City, established in 1995.
To the right of Cairo are even newer settlements, the aptly named New Cairo City houses many universities and lies in the desert further away from the resource-rich Nile river. These satellite cities attract people away from the densely populated Cairo.
To the North (top-right in this picture) lie the agricultural fields that rely on water from the Nile River. Interspersed at crossroads are smaller cities and villages that give off the distinctive yellow glow of human settlements at night.
Photo credit: ESA/NASA
