Rare view of Malaysia and Thailand Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features a rare view of the Malay Peninsula from the International Space Station (ISS). This region of Thailand and Malaysia is difficult to capture from space due to persistent clouds. 

According to NASA, The photo was taken near the end of Malaysia’s northeast monsoon season, which runs from November to March. Malaysia also experiences a second monsoon season from May to September.

The panoramic view shows thin clouds and possibly small smoke plumes being blown from the northeast, which are typical of wind patterns for this time of year, reports NASA.

On this day, it was nearly too hazy to make out Thailand. This is due in part to hundreds of fires that were active during Southeast Asia’s burning season. Throughout the era of Western imperialism in Asia, Siam remained the only nation in the region to avoid being colonized by foreign powers, although it was often forced to cede both territory and trade concessions in unequal treaties.

The Siamese government was centralized and transformed into a new definite absolute monarchy in the reign of Chulalongkorn. In World War I, Siam sided with the allies, a political decision to amend the unequal treaties. Following a bloodless revolution in 1932, it became a constitutional monarchy and changed its official name to Thailand, which was a satellite of Japan in World War II. Also Thailand has periodically alternated between democracy and military rule.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer