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Imhotep's a little ticked

Witness the awe-inspiring sandstorm in the western Sahara desert captured by NASA's Aqua satellite. Discover its vast impact today!

Written byPhil Plait
| 1 min read
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On April 22, 2010, a sandstorm swept across the western Sahara desert. NASA's Aqua satellite captured this frightening event:

Placeholder image showing Earth from space with an alert icon and the message ‘This image is no longer available.’

Yegads. Click to ensandinate. This is a closeup of a much larger panorama at the border of Niger and Burkina Faso. The whole front of the storm was about 1000 km (600 miles) across! I looked at the zoomed image, but couldn't find Rick O'Connell's biplane. That's probably all for the best.

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