The ISS astronaut showed a bright luminous dot on Earth, which is visible only during the day
Miscellaneous / / August 29, 2022
Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who is currently on the ISS, continues to delight her social media followers with new photos. In May she showed, what a lunar eclipse looks like from orbit, and now shared pictures of the earth's surface with an "intriguing sight" - a very bright point that can be seen during the day.
This bright light is located in the middle of the Negev desert in the Middle East, in Israel. Samantha did not hide the intrigue and immediately wrote that this was a solar power plant.
To be more precise, this is the Ashalim solar thermal plant, which has 50,600 heliostatsA heliostat is a device that rotates a mirror to direct the sun's rays in one direction, despite the apparent diurnal movement of the sun. with computer control and a 260-meter energy tower in the center, reminiscent of the Eye of Sauron.
The solar tower uses molten salt, allowing the plant to operate up to 4.5 hours after sunset. The total power of the entire station is 121 megawatts.
So unusual to see man-made lights during the day!
Samantha Cristoforetti
ISS astronaut
Earlier in August Samantha showed stunning footage of the aurora.
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