Iberian NightDimmed by thin clouds, nighttime lights reveal the shape of the Iberian Peninsula in Europe in a recently released picture taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station.The 227,800-square-mile (590,000-square-kilometer) Iberian Peninsula includes the Principality of Andorra, the Kingdom of Spain, and the Portuguese Republic. The narrow Strait of Gibraltar separates the peninsula from northern Africa, seen on the right in this frame.This photograph from space also shows airglow, a faint green arc seen along the horizon that's caused by chemical reactions among the gas molecules of Earth's upper atmosphere.
Photograph courtesy NASA

Space Pictures This Week: Blue Moon, Wreath Nebula, More

A Saturn moon shows its colors, a nebula shines like a holiday wreath, a new island emerges, and more in the week's best space pictures.

December 29, 2011