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Exploring Earth From Space

Student Information Sheet
Astronauts love to look out the windows of the Space Shuttle, and fortunately, they love to take photographs of what they see. Recently, through a NASA program called EarthKAM, students have also been able to take photographs of Earth from space. Although they were unable to look out the Shuttle's windows, those students tracked the Shuttle and instructed a camera mounted in one of the windows when to take a photograph. You are going to explore both kinds of photos.

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Scale
The scale of a photograph taken from the Shuttle depends on (a) the camera and lens used, (b) the altitude of the Shuttle when the photograph was taken, and (c) the angle of the camera-straight down or oblique. In general, EarthKAM photographs show an area about 120 km by 80 km. The scale of the Shuttle astronaut photographs varies more. (See the backs of the color photographs for exact dimensions.)

Colors
The photographs you will be exploring are all [[italics]]visible light[[/italics]] images, meaning they show what you would see if you looked out a window of the Shuttle. However, the processing and printing of the photographs has changed the colors slightly-they appear somewhat redder than they should.

These Colors:                     Can Indicate:
blues                             water
black, dark blue, or dark green   vegetation
white                             clouds, snow, or human 
                                  impact
red, orange, peach or brown       ground, soil, or 
                                  sediment

1 - Student Information Sheet Exploring Earth From Space