These are not pictures of Himalayas from Space.
A computer generated image is shared in social media claiming that it was taken from space.
Rating
Claim
The Himalayas from space! 🏔
Explanation
Some pictures are virally shared in social media claiming to be taken from space and/or the International Space Station (ISS) showing the Himalayas. Space or the outer space is generally defined as the area above 100 kilometres from the sea level which is generally denoted using the Kármán line. International Space Station is orbiting the earth at an altitude of around 400 kilometres from the sea level. From the early 2000s, the International Space Station continuously had enabled the presence of humans in space. It orbits 16 times around the earth in a day with each orbit taking around 90 minutes. Now, several posts are shared in social media claiming to be photos of Himalayas taken from the International Space Station. See here, here and here.
The Himalayas from space! 🌎🗻 pic.twitter.com/b61gBUZ3fc
— DailyScientist.org (@Physdashastro) March 24, 2023
What’s the truth?
A reverse image search of these two images revealed that the images were not taken from space or the International Space Station (ISS). But these were computer generated by a designer Christoph Hormann. These images can be accessed from his website here and here.
The pictures are even sold as stock photos which can be purchased here.
World renowned Discovery Channel too shared these two pictures in one of their tweets last year. (Archive Link)
Now that's a magnificent sight!
Reposted from Unknown Universe
The Himalayas from space! 🏔 What’s your favorite image? 😍#DiscoveryChannelIndia #DiscoveryChannel #TheHimalayas pic.twitter.com/hU7llEhjnn
— Discovery Channel India (@DiscoveryIN) May 31, 2022
The Himalayas has been photographed from the International Space Station which is uploaded in the NASA website. Below are some of the images from NASA’s webstite. Link here, here, here, here and here.
NASA had posted an image in its Instagram page which was taken from the International Space Station showing the Himalayas. The image has received over a million likes. Link here.
Mark T. Vande Hei is a retired US Army Colonel and a NASA astronaut. He tweeted out an image taken from the ISS showing the Himalayas.
Somewhere on a clear, bright day in the Himalayas. I can’t get enough views like this. pic.twitter.com/1QNylAIqAF
— Mark T. Vande Hei (@Astro_Sabot) June 2, 2021
Conclusion
The virally shared images in social media are not taken from International Space Station (ISS). The images were computer generated by a graphic designer.
