As shown in a night-time photograph taken from the International Space Station, the ancient city of Seville, visible to the north of the Strait of Gibraltar, is one of Spain's largest cities.
The ancient city of Seville, visible to the north of the Strait of Gibraltar in this night-time photograph from the International Space Station, is one of the largest cities in Spain. The network of smaller cities and towns along the coastline and in the interior attest to the extent of the human presence on the Iberian landscape.
The blurring of city lights is caused by thin cloud cover (image left and center), while cloud tops are dimly illuminated by moonlight. Though obscured, the lights of France are visible near the horizon line on the upper left, while the lights of northern Africa are more clearly discernable at right. The faint gold and green line of airglow”caused by ultraviolet radiation exciting the gas molecules in the upper atmosphere”parallels the horizon (or Earth limb).
The Iberian Peninsula is the southwestern-most of the European peninsulas (together with the Italian and Balkan peninsulas), and includes the Principality of Andorra, as well as the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic. The approximately 590,000-square-kilometer landmass is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the northwest, west, and southwest and the Mediterranean Sea to the east. Its northeastern boundary is marked by the Pyrenees mountain range.
Source: NASA
