PIA11091: Mt. Vesuvius, Italy
 Target Name:  Earth
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Terra
 Spacecraft:  Terra
 Instrument:  ASTER
 Product Size:  3002 x 2477 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA11091.tif (22.31 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA11091.jpg (2.267 MB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This ASTER image of Mt. Vesuvius Italy was acquired September 26, 2000, and covers an area of 36 by 45 km. Vesuvius overlooks the city of Naples and the Bay of Naples in central Italy. In 79 AD, Vesuvius erupted cataclysmically, burying all of the surrounding cites with up to 30 m of ash. The towns of Pompeii and Herculanaeum were rediscovered in the 18th century, and excavated in the 20th century. They provide a snapshot of Roman life from 2000 years ago: perfectly preserved are wooden objects, food items, and the casts of hundreds of victims. Vesuvius is intensively monitored for potential signs of unrest that could signal the beginning of another eruption. The image is centered at 40.8 degrees north latitude, 14.4 degrees east longitude.

The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

Image Credit:
NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Image Addition Date:
2001-10-22