Image courtesy: Earth Sciences and Image Analysis
Laboratory -- NASA Johnson Space Center.
Astronauts on Space Shuttle Atlantis took this photo,
looking nearly straight down onto South Mountain and the Sierra Estrella, from 231 miles
(372km) above Phoenix. This view shows in amazing detail the stretched domes of
the South Mountains (just above the center of the picture) and the Alta
Ridge (just above that and to the left).
The Gila River runs from the lower right corner of the picture, past South
Mountain on its left (west) end, to the base of the Estrella
Mountains, and then past their north end. Downtown Phoenix
is at the top edge of the picture, midway from left to right.
"Stretching" of South Mountain is evident, along a northeast (top
right) - southwest (bottom left) direction. This "" lies almost perpendicular to the northwest - southeast trend of the
Sierra Estrella, a "" set of mountains.
This photograph (# STS079-810-23) was taken on September 23, 1996, at 9:32am
Arizona Time. There are many more great pictures from space on the NASA website.