PIA12866: Chateaubriant, France
 Target Name:  Earth
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Terra
 Spacecraft:  Terra
 Instrument:  ASTER
 Product Size:  2403 x 2274 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA12866.tif (16.41 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA12866.jpg (1.497 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:

The city of Chateaubriant is located in northwest France, surrounded by very old farmsteads. Founded in the 11th century because of its strategic location on the Chere River, the present city has about 13,000 inhabitants. The surrounding countryside presents an interesting pattern of randomly oriented, small individual farmsteads. This pattern is a vestige of Middle Age land practices, and is prevalent throughout Europe. The image was acquired November 5, 2007, covers an area of 36 x 34 km, and is located at 47.7 degrees north latitude, 1.4 degrees west longitude.

With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products.

The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils and geology; and measuring surface heat balance.

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, Washington, D.C.

More information about ASTER is available at http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/.

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

Image Addition Date:
2010-03-08