In the center of Poland lies its third-largest city: Łódź. Seen from the International Space Station at night the city’s lights contrast with the blackness of the surrounding countryside.
Unlike many pictures of night-time Earth, the local airport is not the most striking visual marker. The Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport seems to be obscured by clouds causing the slight blurring seen to the bottom left of Łódź.
In this picture land-transport is responsible for the distinctive ‘X’ at the top right: a motorway junction near the town of Stryków. The lights to the left of the junction correspond to a transport hub for trucks.
Satellite towns of Pabianice (bottom-left) and Zgierz (top) also show up clearly in this picture.
This image was taken by an astronaut from 400 km above Earth in April 2012.
Photo credit: ESA/NASA
The snow-covered southern Polish city of Kraków is pictured in this image from the Kompsat-2 satellite.
The Vistula River snakes across the top of the image. The part of the river pictured flows from west to east as it winds northwards and empties into the Baltic Sea (not visible).
Kraków sits in a valley at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains and has a number of important nature reserves of great ecological value. Dubbed the European Capital of Culture in 2000, the city has an extensive cultural heritage across the epochs of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture, and is home to one of the oldest universities in the world: Jagellonian University.
Just north of the river at the center-left portion of the image is the medieval Old Town or historic central district. The area is home to Europe’s largest market square, along with numerous historic houses, palaces and churches.
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978, the Old Town was the center of Poland’s political life until King Sigismund III Vasa moved his court to Warsaw in the late 1500s.
This image was acquired on 5 February 2010 by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Kompsat-2 satellite.
Image credit: KARI/ESA
