Stunning Space Photo Shows Utah's 'Silver Serpent' Lake

A breathtaking view from the International Space Station turned an ordinary Utah reservoir into something that looks straight out of a fantasy novel.

Astronauts photographed Lake Powell during a rare "sunglint" in 2016, when sunlight bounced off the water's surface directly into their line of sight. The result? A stunning silver serpent winding through southern Utah's red rock landscape.

Lake Powell stretches from near Moab to just northeast of the Grand Canyon. When full, this massive reservoir holds 1.2 billion cubic feet of water, making it America's second-largest reservoir after nearby Lake Mead.

The astronauts captured multiple photos as the sunglint moved along the reservoir's length, then stitched them together into one complete image. Normally this mirror-like effect would only appear across a small section, but the photo mosaic illuminated the entire snaking waterway.

The reservoir sits inside Glen Canyon, a place that once captivated explorer John Wesley Powell in the 1860s. He described gliding past "towering monuments" and "mounded billows of orange sandstone" with "oak-set glens" and "fern-decked alcoves."

Many of those natural wonders now rest beneath Lake Powell's surface. The reservoir formed in the 1960s after the Glen Canyon Dam raised water levels by 200 feet over two decades.

The Bright Side

While the dam submerged countless geological treasures, it created new opportunities for discovery from above. The space station view reveals features still visible today, including smaller shadowed canyons branching off the main reservoir and a striking formation called The Rincon, a 3-mile-wide rusty doughnut marking an ancient dried riverbed.

During droughts, when water levels drop, hidden geological wonders resurface. In 2023, researchers discovered rare Jurassic fossils along the reservoir's normally submerged shoreline.

The image reminds us that even transformed landscapes hold remarkable beauty. From 250 miles above Earth, astronauts continue documenting our planet's ever-changing face, capturing moments of unexpected wonder that help us see familiar places with fresh eyes.