Earth from Space - Image Description

STS058-089-033 Pikes Peak, Colorado, U.S.A. October 1993
Snow-capped Pikes Peak, an ancient pink granite rock, rises 14 110 feet (4300 meters) above sea level. Other mountains that make up the Pike Peak massif are Cheyenne Mountain immediately south of Pikes Peak and Rampart Range, another granite formation separated from Pikes Peak by Ute Pass, a valley between these two granite mountains. Colorado Springs, at the northeast base of Pikes Peak, is not discernible; however, a single linear feature (airport runway) is visible (bottom center). A dark arc of forest is apparent (lower right corner). Visible in South Park, one of Colorado's four big intermontane (elevated) valleys, are Elevenmile Canyon Reservoir and, to the northwest, Spinney Mountain Reservoir. The Arkansas River Valley is visible to the south.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.