An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photo of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, which straddles the Wyoming-Utah border. Snow blankets the mountains and high plains, highlighting the geology and landforms of the region.
The national recreation area has a variety of natural features, such as Ashley National Forest, the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, a portion of the Green River, and a national recreation trail. The landscape varies from high-desert plains to alpine lakes.
The Green River was partially frozen (top-left) when this photograph was taken in December 2022. The river is a major tributary of the Colorado River and feeds the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Mountain ridges and passes, known as The Reaves and The Glades, were carved by the river’s meandering path.
The northern part of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area consists of The Glades, Goslin Mountain, and Little Mountain in Wyoming. Just across the border in Utah, the southern part of the recreation area consists of The Reaves, Bear Mountain, and the Uinta Mountains. The ecologically diverse lands support various animals like bald eagles, black bear, and lake trout.
Astronaut photograph ISS068-E-33725 was acquired on December 11, 2022, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 140 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 68 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Francesca Filippone, Texas State University, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC.
