By JOE PINKSTONE FOR MAILONLINE
- Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco formed around 80 million years ago
- Taken more than 440miles above Earth’s surface by NASA’s Terra satellite
- Spacecraft was only intended to be operational for a maximum of six years
- But the satellite is still working after more than 20 years in orbit
A stunning image of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas mountains taken in infrared light has been released by NASA.
The photograph uses the special form of light — which is invisible to the naked eye — to dramatically highlight the different layers of rock and sediment.
It was taken more than 440miles (708km) above Earth’s surface via an orbiting satellite which revealed the tie-dye appearance of the seabed.
Millions of years of geological processes are trapped in the Anti-Atlas Mountains and NASA released the image as its recent ‘image of the day’.
‘The Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco formed as a result of the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates about 80 million years ago,’ NASA said in a statement.
‘This collision destroyed the Tethys Ocean.’
Terra got its name from the Greek word for ‘Earth’ and when it launched in 1999 was the first satellite to form the Earth Observing System (EOS).
It was built to be operational for just six years, but has now passed 20 years in use and still collects vital data for various space agencies, including NASA.
It has five on-board instruments that monitor various things on Earth, including an infrared sensor.
A stunning image of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas mountains taken in infrared light has been released by NASA
NASA said in a statement that the layers were made of limestone, sandstone, claystone and gypsum and formed the ocean bed.
The unique way in which these layers folded on top of one another created the Anti-Atlas Mountains.
NASA said: ‘In this image of southwest Morocco, visible, near infrared and short wavelength infrared bands are combined to dramatically highlight the different rock types, and illustrate the complex folding.’
