At left is a true-color image taken by the Multi-Angle Imaging
Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite. This
image was captured by the MISR camera looking at a 70.5-degree angle to
the surface, ahead of the spacecraft. The middle image was taken by the
MISR downward-looking (nadir) camera, and the right image is from the
aftward 70.5-degree camera. The images are reproduced using the same
radiometric scale, so variations in brightness, color, and contrast
represent true variations in surface and atmospheric reflectance with
angle. Windblown dust from the Sahara Desert is apparent in all three
images, and is much brighter in the oblique views. This illustrates
how MISR's oblique imaging capability makes the instrument a sensitive
detector of dust and other particles in the atmosphere. Data for all
channels are presented in a Space Oblique Mercator map projection to
facilitate their co-registration. The images are about 400 km (250 miles)
wide, with a spatial resolution of about 1.1 kilometers (1,200 yards).
North is toward the top.
Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/JPL, MISR Science Team
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