Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and has many mineral springs, such as the Sofia Central Mineral Baths. It has a humid continental climate. Being in the center of the Balkans, it is midway between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea, and closest to the Aegean Sea. Sofia is the 13th largest city in the European Union. It is surrounded by mountainsides, such as Vitosha by the southern side, Lyulin by the western side, and the Balkan Mountains by the north, which makes it the third highest European capital after Andorra la Vella and Madrid. Being Bulgaria's primate city, Sofia is home of many of the major local universities, cultural institutions and commercial companies. The city has been described as the "triangle of religious tolerance". This is due to the fact that three temples of three major world religions—Christianity, Islam and Judaism—are situated close together.
#sofia#bulgaria#captial#city#vitosha#mountains#iskar#river#balkans#adriaic#aegean#sea#university#triangle#tolerance#maxar#viewfromabove#viewfromspace#space#birdseyeview#satellite#satelliteimagery#vantagepoint#photooftheday#photography#art#instagood#picoftheday
“City” is a land art sculpture by Michael Heizer. It is located in Garden Valley, a desert valley in rural Lincoln County, Nevada. It spans more than a mile in length and is one of the largest contemporary artworks ever built. The work begun in 1972, taking 50 years to complete, and cost an estimated total of $40 million. City is maintained by the Triple Aught Foundation and will open on September 2, 2022, to a limited, reservation-only viewing by a maximum of six visitors per day. Like Heizer's previous work, Double Negative in 1969, City is designed and executed on a massive scale. Covering a space approximately one and a quarter mile long and more than a quarter of a mile wide (2 km by 0.4 km, roughly the scale of the National Mall), City is one of the largest sculptures ever created. Using local dirt, rock, sand, and concrete as building materials, and assembled with heavy machinery, the work is composed of five phases, each consisting of a number of structures referred to as complexes, with some of the structures reaching a height of 80 feet (24 m). City attempts to synthesize ancient monuments, Minimalism and industrial technology. Heizer's inspiration for the work came while he was visiting the Yucatan and studying Chichen Itza.
#city#gardenvalley#nevada#michaelheizer#desert#lincolncounty#artwork#contemporary#tripleaught#sculpture#dirt#rock#sand#concrete#monument#maxar#viewfromabove#viewfromspace#space#birdseyeview#satellite#satelliteimagery#vantagepoint#photooftheday#photography#art#instagood#picoftheday
On July 19 and 20, 2022, NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites captured these images of smoke plumes from wildfires burning in Portugal, Spain, and France. The orange dots are where the spacecraft measured active fires.
The blazes were fueled by hot, dry conditions stemming from a drier-than-normal winter and spring that has worsened drought conditions across much of Europe, according to the @europeancommission.
The heat wave rolling across western Europe produced record-high temperatures, with many regions rising above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).
#nasa#globalwarming#climatechange#wildfires#heatwaves#europe#satellitedata#earthdata#climatedata#satelliteimagery#portugal#spain#france#smoke#drought