KATA TJUTA / MOUNT OLGA BY NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY  (since 1999)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION  

Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga  (1,069 m - 3,507 ft)

Australia (Northern Territory )

Photographed from space in 2010

The mountain 

Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga  (1,069 m - 3,507 ft) is a located in the Northern Territory of Australia,  in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park which hosts some of the world’s most spectacular examples of inselbergs (isolated mountains). The most famous of these inselbergs is Uluru /Ayers Rock. An equally massive inselberg located approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) to the northwest is known as Kata Tjuta. Like Uluru, this is a sacred site to the native Anangu or Aboriginal people. An English-born explorer named the highest peak Mount Olga, with the entire grouping of rocks informally known as “the Olgas.” Mount Olga has a peak elevation making it 206 meters (676 feet) higher than Uluru/Ayers Rock.

In this astronaut photograph, afternoon sunlight highlights the rounded summits of Kata Tjuta against the surrounding sandy plains. Sand dunes are visible at image lower left, while in other areas (image bottom and image right) sediments washed from the rocks have been anchored by a variety of grasses and bushes adapted to the arid climate. Green vegetation in the ephemeral stream channels that drain Kata Tjuta (image top center) provides colorful contrast with the red rocks and surrounding soils. Large gaps in the rocks (highlighted by shadows) are thought to be fractures that have been enlarged due to erosion.

Kata Tjuta is comprised of gently dipping Mount Currie Conglomerate, a sedimentary rock that includes rounded fragments of other rock types (here, primarily granite with less abundant basalt and rhyolite in a coarse sandy matrix). Geologists interpret the Mount Currie Conglomerate as a remnant of a large fan of material rapidly eroded from mountains uplifted approximately 550 million years ago. Subsequent burial under younger sediments consolidated the eroded materials to form the conglomerate exposed at the surface today.

Source: 

- NASA  Earth Observatory 

The photographer 

Astronaut photograph ISS023-E-29806 was acquired on April 30, 2010, with a Nikon D3 digital camera fitted with an 800 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center.  The image was taken by the Expedition 23 crew. 

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. 

JEBEL UWIENAT BY NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY & ISS

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY (since 1999)
ISS

Jebel  Uwienat (1,934m - 6,345ft) 

Egypt, Sudan, Lybia border

1. NASA Johnson Space Center, from satellite,  March, 20, 2008
2.  ISS by french astronaut Thomas Pesquet, December 26, 2016 

The mountain 

The Jebel Uweinat (1,934m - 6,345ft) in Arabic: جبل العوينات (literally "mountain of springs"), also spelled Al Awaynat, Auenat, Ouenat, Ouinat, Owainat, Oweinat Uweinat, Uweinat Uwenat, Uweynat is a mountain in border between Egypt, Libya and Sudan. The Jebel Uweinat is located in the eastern Sahara, forty kilometers south-southeast of like mountains, the Jebel Arkanu, Libya.

The main source of solid, called Ain Dua, lies on its western foothills. This side is a cliff 600 meters high around which the foot is covered with large rocks fell under the effect of erosion. It is home to oases covered with bushes and herbaceous plants. A total of three valleys are oriented towards the West: Karkur Hamid Idriss and Karkur Karkur Ibrahim. To the East, the massif ends in the valley of Karkur Talh. The climax of the massif in its eastern half, is at the top of the Italia plateau.

The western half of the massif is an intrusion of granite forming concentric rings, the largest of which is 25 kilometers in diameter. The eastern half consists of sandstones forming four distinct trays.

The massif is officially discovered in 1923 by Ahmed Hassanein who, during his exploration, reports the existence of petroglyphs representing lions, giraffes, ostriches, gazelles or even oxen, in a style reminiscent of that of the Bushmen. He tries to cross the massif from west to east but makes a U-turn after traveling forty kilometers without finding an exit.

In the 1930s, each built a cairn at the top of the highest point of the massif.

The photographer 
For the second shot posted in this blog, the photographer is Thomas Pesquet on board International Space Station. Thomas Pesquet is a European Space Agency astronaut of French nationality. He is currently on a six-month mission to the International Space Station. Thomas is serving as a flight engineer for Expeditions 50 and 51, launched in November 2016 and returning in May 2017. He previously worked as an aerospace engineer, and is also an airline pilot for Air France.

MOUNT SIDLEY BY NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY (since 1999)

Mount Sidley  (4,285m - 14,058ft)

Antarctica

1.  In Mount Sidley seen from space, photo by Landsat 8, NASA Earth Observatory 

2.  In Mont Sidley caldera - aerial view, vintage photo 

The mountain 
Mount Sidley  (4,181–4,285 m - 13,717–14,058 ft) is the highest dormant volcano in Antarctica, a member of the Volcanic Seven Summits, standing about 2,200 meters (7,200 feet) above ice level. It is a massive, mainly snow-covered shield volcano which is the highest and most imposing of the five volcanic mountains that comprise the Executive Committee Range of Marie Byrd Land. The feature is marked by a spectacular 5 km (3 miles) wide caldera on the southern side and stands NE of Mount Waesche in the southern part of the range. The mountain was discovered by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd on an airplane flight, November 18, 1934, and named by him for Mabelle E. Sidley, the daughter of William Horlick who was a contributor to the 1933–35 Byrd Antarctic Expedition. Despite its lofty status, the volcano languishes in obscurity due to its extremely remote location. It is little known even in the mountaineering world compared to the far more famous Mount Erebus, the second highest Antarctic volcano which is located near the U.S. and New Zealand bases on Ross Island. The first recorded ascent of Mount Sidley was by New Zealander Bill Atkinson on January 11, 1990, whilst working in support of a USAP scientific field party.

Imager
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.  This image of Mount Sidley was acquired on November 20, 2014, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8.  The image is the public domain. The caldera wall, which is mostly shadowed in this image, is about 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) high. Sidley is one of five volcanoes in the Executive Committee Range, which stretches about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from north to south.
Source 
- NASA Earth Observatory