QUICK FACTSWhere is it? The Sulaiman Mountains, in Pakistan [31.42234772, 69.99196811]What is within the photograph? A wall of haze trapped in the back of an enormous, mountainous ridgeWho took the photograph? An unnamed astronaut on board the Global House StationWhen used to be it taken? Dec. 17, 2023This astronaut photograph, captured in 2023, presentations a wall of haze trapped by means of a mountain vary in Pakistan. The low perspective of the photograph supplies a singular standpoint of the clouds pressed up in opposition to the peaks.Pictured within the symbol is a bit of the Sulaiman Mountains, which quilt round 2,500 sq. miles (6,500 sq. kilometers) of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The title “Sulaiman” manner “of Solomon” in Balochi — a connection with the biblical determine King Solomon, who dominated historic Israel round 3,000 years in the past.The mountains shape a herbal barrier round 9,800 ft (3,000 meters) above sea degree. Increased plateaus sit down to their west, and the Indus River Valley lies to their east, the place moisture from the Indian Ocean ceaselessly accumulates, growing a mixture of haze, mist and clouds. The quite a lot of kinds of water vapor are too low to go above the mountains and are as an alternative compelled across the peaks by way of a procedure referred to as terrain-forced go with the flow, in step with NASA’s Earth Observatory.Then again, some small clouds can nonetheless pressure their manner in between the peaks in a couple of puts. This sort of spots, situated within the middle of the picture, is correct above a small Pakistani the city named Dhana Sar, the place a gorge cuts throughout the mountains.Comparable: 12 wonderful photographs of Earth from house
This cartoon from the nineteenth century presentations participants of the Lohani tribe putting in place camp on the base of the Sulaiman Mountain’s most renowned height, Takht-e-Sulaiman. (Symbol credit score: Godfrey Thomas Vigne/Wikimedia)The Sulaiman Mountains are an extension of the southern Hindu Kush mountain gadget, which shaped round 60 million years in the past by means of a “slow-motion collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates,” in step with NASA’s Earth Observatory.The mountains’ best-known height is Takht-e-Sulaiman, sometimes called the “Throne of Solomon,” the place its namesake supposedly climbed as much as gaze over Hindustan — the traditional time period used to explain the northern portions of the Indian subcontinent, in step with the writings of 14th-century explorer Ibn Battuta. This mountain, which is 11,440 ft (3,487 m) tall, is situated simply out of shot (to the left of the picture), round 20 miles (32 km) north of Dhana Sar.Get the sector’s most enticing discoveries delivered instantly on your inbox.In spite of being captured from house, the photograph seems to be love it has been taken from the air as a result of it’s “indirect,” that means it’s been taken side-on from an perspective of round 45 levels. This impact may also be completed most effective from the Global House Station as a result of astronauts can take footage out of the station’s facet home windows. Maximum satellites, in contrast, are limited to the standard straight-down, or “nadir,” standpoint.
