Earth from Space - Image Description

STS090-705-058 Palermo, Sicily, Italy April 1998
Although scattered clouds obscure some of the terrain, the extensiveness of the urban built-up area of Palermo is obvious near the center of the picture. With a population of roughly 700000 people, Palermo is the largest city and chief seaport of Sicily. The topography of this section of northern Sicily consists of the low mountains of the Conca D'Ora Range. The general texture of the land conveys the ruggedness of the surrounding landscape. The city faces a large bay that is part of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Intersecting runways (linear features) of the Palermo Airport are barely visible on the large peninsula west of the city.

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