Photo #: ISS045-E-549 Date: Sep. 2015 Geographic Region: CHINA Feature: SIPING CITY, AIRPORT, VILLAGES |
North China city patterns Some parts of the world display such unique human patterns that astronauts learn which country they are overflying just by looking out of windows in the International Space Station. This astronaut digital photograph of China's northern province of Jilin, shows a pattern of small, tightly packed villages, the classic pattern of rural China. The villages are typically less than 2 km (1.25 mi) apart (image left and far right) set within a landscape of dark green agricultural fields. The light-toned villages are elongated along local streams. By contrast, North America seen from space looks markedly rectangular because of prominent field boundaries -- which also give astronauts an instant sense of direction because they are mostly aligned north-south/east-west Prominently overlaid on this ancient pattern is the large modern city of Siping (population 615,000 in 2010), with associated features of nearly straight highways and railroads, a ring road, and an airport (its length, which give a sense of scale: 2.4 km, 1.5 mi). Siping began its growth in the early 1900s when the first railroad connected it to the coast. Battles were fought here during the Chinese Civil War (1927-1950), devastating the city. |
Images: | All Available Images Low-Resolution 114k |
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Mission: | ISS045 |
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Roll - Frame: | E - 549 |
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Geographical Name: | CHINA |
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Features: | SIPING CITY, AIRPORT, VILLAGES |
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Center Lat x Lon: | 43.1N x 124.3E |
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Film Exposure: | N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus |
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Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: | 10 |
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Camera:: | N6 |
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Camera Tilt: | 19 | LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical |
Camera Focal Length: | 500 |
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Nadir to Photo Center Direction: | NW | The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West |
Stereo?: | Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't |
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Orbit Number: | |
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Date: | 20150913 | YYYYMMDD |
Time: | 012914 | GMT HHMMSS |
Nadir Lat: | 42.4N |
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft |
Nadir Lon: | 125.3E |
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft |
Sun Azimuth: | 135 | Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point |
Space Craft Altitude: | 214 | nautical miles |
Sun Elevation: | 43 | Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point |
Land Views: | |
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Water Views: | |
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Atmosphere Views: | |
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Man Made Views: | AIRPORT |
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City Views: | |
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Photo is not associated with any sequences |
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