The city of Dubai is the largest metropolitan area in the emirate ofDubai, one of the member states of the United Arab Emirates. Dubai islocated along the southern Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula, andits signature city is known for high profile architectural anddevelopment projects. Among the most notable is the Palm Jumeirah, a man-madepeninsula and surrounding islands built from over 50 million cubicmeters of sand. Three other island projects, two similar to PalmJumeirah and another crafted to look like a map of the world, arealso underway along the Dubai coastline.
This nighttime astronaut photograph of the city of Dubai was taken atapproximately 2 a.m. local time on September 11, 2009. Orange sodiumvapor lights trace the major highways and street grid in and around themetropolitan area, while grey-white mercury vapor lamps fill in thecommercial and residential areas. The lighted islands and peninsula ofPalm Jumeirah are clearly visible along the coastline. A spiralpattern of lights on the southeastern fringe of the urban area is acamel racetrack. Nighttime images like these are useful to climatemodelers, urban planners, and geographers as they allow for simpledefinition of urban (densely lit) and rural (sparely lit) areas.
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Astronaut photograph ISS020-E-39932 was acquired on September 11, 2009, with a Nikon D3 digital camera fitted with an 80 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 20 crew. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by William L. Stefanov, NASA-JSC.
