The sun was shining brightly on Arizona's high desert in early 2026, revealing the remnants of a winter storm and creating a striking display of light and shadow in the Grand Canyon. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured these photographs on January 26, 2026, using a Nikon Z9 digital camera with a focal length of 400 millimeters.
The photos show a portion of the Grand Canyon forming a U shape, with the plateau on both sides partially covered in snow. The South Rim and North Rim of the canyon are at elevations of around 7,000 feet and 8,000 feet respectively, and receive an average seasonal total of 58 inches and 142 inches of snowfall.
However, if the iconic feature of the American West appears more like a mountain range than a vast chasm in these images, it's likely due to a visual illusion called relief inversion. The Sun is shining from the south or bottom of the photos, rather than from the top as we typically expect. Snow helps signal that the flat areas sit at higher elevations.
These photographs were taken by a member of Expedition 74 crew and are provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The images have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed.
The photos show a portion of the Grand Canyon forming a U shape, with the plateau on both sides partially covered in snow. The South Rim and North Rim of the canyon are at elevations of around 7,000 feet and 8,000 feet respectively, and receive an average seasonal total of 58 inches and 142 inches of snowfall.
However, if the iconic feature of the American West appears more like a mountain range than a vast chasm in these images, it's likely due to a visual illusion called relief inversion. The Sun is shining from the south or bottom of the photos, rather than from the top as we typically expect. Snow helps signal that the flat areas sit at higher elevations.
These photographs were taken by a member of Expedition 74 crew and are provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The images have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed.
! But it's crazy how our brains can play tricks on us - those photos show the canyon looking more like a mountain range, right? 
It's all about perspective. Anyway, as a parent, I love how these astronauts get to capture such stunning shots from space, and now we get to see them too 
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. Like honestly who cares if its not looking like a traditional canyon? Thats just part of what makes it so unique. And snow in AZ is basically normal, I'm sure some ppl will be all like "omg this is winter wonderland" and others will be "yawn, its just a bunch of white stuff". And the fact that we need to explain why the suns shining from below lol 
. Its all about perspective, folks!
. The fact that the Grand Canyon had enough snow to create a U shape in these photos is just a reminder of how crazy nature can be, right? But what's also interesting is how humans use technology to observe and study this stuff - like NASA's crew on the ISS using a fancy camera to capture the moment 
. It makes me wonder, who has access to that kind of tech and expertise in our country? Are we investing enough in space exploration and environmental research to stay ahead of the curve? We should be supporting more programs like this one so we can better understand and prepare for the effects of climate change 
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the way the sun's light plays with the shadows on that snowy plateau... it's almost ethereal 
It's literally mind-blowing to see how our brains trick us into thinking it's still the same iconic chasm we're used to seeing. The relief inversion thingy is so cool and I never knew it was a real thing 
, but yeah, when u look at the snow-covered areas on both sides, it's like "wait, those aren't cliffs!" 
you know, lookin at these pics of the Grand Canyon in all that snow, it's makin me think about perspective 
. The sun shinin from below makes it look like a mountain range, not just this massive hole in the ground 
. It's like life, man - we see things from different angles, and that changes how we perceive them entirely 
. We need to be aware of our own biases and try to see the bigger picture 
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makes sense why its look more mountain range than canyon... never knew that term existed lol 
they look so different from what we see on earth! i mean, no wonder ppl think its a mountain range 
it's literally a giant optical illusion 
and can u believe those astronauts got these pics with just a nikon z9 camera? 
Just looked at those pics of the Grand Canyon taken from space and I'm blown away! 
is giving me some weird déjà vu vibes 
The camera pics just make it even more mind-blowing, right? 
I'm kinda impressed that we're already seeing winter in the Grand Canyon, but on the flip side, I worry about how climate change is altering our natural landscapes like this. It's wild that astronauts can capture these pics from space 
and there's no clear hierarchy or structure 
can't they make it easier to read 
like, who wants to scroll through a bunch of paragraphs when u can just dive in with a single sentence intro 
maybe add some visuals too 
The pics are gorgeous btw.
I mean, yeah, who needs lens artifacts removed from an actual photo taken by astronauts, right? It's not like that's part of the experience or something. And cropping it down to make the Grand Canyon look more defined just feels like a lazy edit job. Where's the authenticity in that? 
Still, it's crazy to think about how far we've come in space photography... I mean, who needs a normal camera when you can have a Nikon Z9 on the ISS?