Astronaut Photography of Earth - Display Record
ISS008-E-21752
Low-resolution Browse Image
Identification
Mission: ISS008 Roll:
E Frame: 21752 Mission ID on the Film or image:
ISS008
Country or Geographic Name: TURKEY
Features: ISTANBUL, BOSPORUS
Center Point Latitude: 41.0 Center Point Longitude: 29.0 (Negative numbers indicate south for
latitude and west for longitude)
Stereo:
(Yes indicates there is an adjacent picture of the same
area)
ONC Map ID: JNC Map ID:
Camera
Camera Tilt: 34
Camera Focal Length:
200mm
Camera: E4: Kodak DCS760C Electronic Still Camera
Film:
3060E : 3060 x 2036 pixel CCD, RGBG array.
Quality
Film Exposure:
Percentage
of Cloud Cover: 10 (0-10)
Nadir
Date: 20040416 (YYYYMMDD)GMT Time: 115724
(HHMMSS)
Nadir Point Latitude: 41.8, Longitude: 31.0
(Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for
longitude)
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: West
Sun Azimuth:
229 (Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the
nadir point)
Spacecraft Altitude: 193 nautical miles (357
km)
Sun Elevation Angle: 49 (Angle in degrees between the
horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point)
Orbit Number:
2863
Captions
Istanbul, Turkey: The Crossroads of Europe and
Asia:
This metropolis of 15 million people occupies both sides of the
entrance to the narrow, 20-mile long Bosporus Strait connecting the
Mediterranean and Sea of Marmara (south) to the Black Sea (north). From its
founding as Byzantium by the Greeks in 600 B.C., this strategically located city
has been a focus of maritime trade and commerce as well as an outpost and
threshold for cultural exchange and conflict between Europe and Asia. The modern
city’s layout and architecture show the influences of both the Roman-Byzantine
era when it became Constantinople, the world’s first Christian capital, as well
as that of the conquering Ottoman Turks, from 1453, when it became the seat of
the world’s largest Muslim Empire. Today Istanbul is Turkey’s economic capital
and home to nearly half the country’s wealth.
This digital camera image
was taken by the crew of the International Space Station on April 16, 2004. When
this image was taken, strong currents carried turbid coastal waters from the
Black Sea through the Strait and into the Sea of Marmara. The rugged uplands to
the north of the city are forested and contain vital reservoirs. Note Ataturk
airport southwest of the city near the bottom of the image, the picturesque
Prince Islands in the Sea of Marmara, and the sinuous waterway and harbor on the
western shore known as the Golden Horn.