Summary

Original image turned to have north up.

• Description: STS033-082-071 Timor Island, Indonesia November 1989.

Timor Island, one of the larger islands of the Lesser Sunda Islands, is located between the Savu Sea to the northwest and the Timor Sea to the southeast. The western half of the island, under Dutch control until 1949, and the eastern half, a Portuguese province until 1975, are now united as a province of Indonesia. Timor Island is approximately 300 miles (480 kilometers) long and 10 to 65 miles (16 to 105 kilometers) wide. Timor and the north-northwest arc of islands around the eastern end of the Banda Sea, all volcanic in origin, are in an unstable region of the world because of the intersection of three major tectonic plates northeast near Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Although it is located in the tropics, Timor Island has a definite dry season during the winter. Large forested volcanic mountains exist; however, much of the landscape lacks dense stands of tropical forest or jungle. Major cash crops include coffee, sandalwood, and copra.

This almost totally cloud free, photo of the island of Timor, Indonesia (9.0S, 125.0E) illustrates the volcanic origin of the over 1500 islands of Indonesia. Close examination of the photo reveals several eroded volcanoes on the Island of Timor and several of the adjacent islands. The linear alignment of the volcanoes, as seen from space, indicates the edges of the tectonic plates of the Earth's crust where volcanic activity is most common.

• Photo #: STS033-82-71
• Date: Nov. 1989
• Source: eol.jsc.nasa.gov

This image or video was catalogued by one of the centers of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: STS033-082-071. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing. Other languages: العربية ∙ беларуская (тарашкевіца) ∙ български ∙ català ∙ čeština ∙ dansk ∙ Deutsch ∙ English ∙ español ∙ فارسی ∙ français ∙ galego ∙ magyar ∙ հայերեն ∙ Bahasa Indonesia ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ македонски ∙ മലയാളം ∙ Nederlands ∙ polski ∙ português ∙ русский ∙ sicilianu ∙ slovenščina ∙ Türkçe ∙ українська ∙ 简体中文 ∙ 繁體中文 ∙ +/−

Licensing

This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was created by the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, of the NASA Johnson Space Center. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (NASA media use guidelines or Conditions of Use of Astronaut Photographs). Photo source: STS033-82-71. العربيَّة | Deutsch | English | español | français | italiano | kurdî | македонски | മലയാളം | português | sicilianu | +/−