Santo Ãntao
- STS087-768-2
- 13 November 1997
- 13:56 UTC
Second largest and northernmost of the Cape Verde Islands, Santo Ãntao (at left in the above image) lies at the northwestern extremity of the archipelago, located 12 km northwest — across the Canal de São Vicente, — from the island of São Vicente. Rectangular in shape, the island measures 41 km in length (northeast to southwest) and 21 km in width, covering an area of 779 km².
Terrain on São Ãntao is dominated by a broad range of mountains that runs the entire length of the island. Composed from a maze of ridges, steep sided valleys, isolated peaks, plateaux and terraces, the mountains reach their highest elevation at the peak of Tope da Coroa (1,979 m) — a small and youthful volcanic cone that sits within a shallow crater. Together with Fogo, Santo Ãntao is the youngest of the Cape Verde islands — the lava flows in the Porto Novo region dating to 200,000 years ago; the oldest exposed lavas date to around 7.6 million years in age.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
