On September 6, 2009, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission
and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA’s Terra
satellite captured this simulated natural color image of the
Station fire, burning in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los
Angeles. The fire started on August 26 in La Canada/Flintridge
near NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (seen at the
bottom of the image), and soon grew to become the largest fire
in Los Angeles County’s history. Ten days after its start, the
fire had consumed more than 160,000 acres (251 square miles) of
forest, leaving behind a charred, blackened landscape, as it
spread eastward. Smoke from the actively burning area can be
seen on the right side of the image; the large dark gray area
dominating the image is the evidence of forest and chaparral
destruction. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the
thermal infrared wavelength region and its high spatial
resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER
images Earth to map and monitor th