An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this nighttime photograph of Ashgabat, the capital city of Turkmenistan. Located in Central Asia, the city lies at the foot of the Kopetdag mountains to the south and the edge of the Garagum (Kara Kum) desert to the north. Both regions appear dark and unlit in this photo. Approximately half of Turkmenistan’s population of 5.6 million lives in or near Ashgabat.
In the middle of the city, the brightly lit international airport and M37 highway serve as major transportation conduits. Several smaller neighborhoods that appear dimmer are located along the highway. Thin, yellow-hued lines in the southern sector of the city are brightly lit roadways serving neighborhoods close to the mountains.
Water flowing from the nearby mountains and foothills makes irrigated agriculture possible in Ashgabat. In this nighttime image, some unlit regions within city limits are agricultural fields or small water reservoirs. The cultivation of wheat, cotton, and rice is possible despite the desert climate.
The M37 highway connects other towns that are also situated along the base of the Kopetdag range. This highway stretches more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from neighboring Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan’s Caspian Sea coast.
Astronaut photograph ISS071-E-672006 was acquired on September 16, 2024, with a Nikon Z9 digital camera using a focal length of 200 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 71 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 Andrea Wenzel, Amentum-JETS II Contract at NASA-JSC.
