SPACEPHOTOS

The sprawling Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is shown in this near-vertical photograph. Near the center of the photograph, situated between Dallas to the east and Fort Worth to the west, is Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), one of the largest commercial airports in the world. The communities between Dallas and Fort Worth, which are 33 miles (53 kilometers) apart, have grown rapidly since the 1970s, adding to the metroplex’s standing as a leading commercial, financial, transportation, agricultural, and oil-producing center in the southwest United States. Many interstate highways can be seen running in all directions throughout the metroplex. Agricultural field patterns and numerous lakes and reservoirs fringe the metroplex. Clockwise from Lewisville Reservoir at noon, the lakes visible in the photograph include Lake Ray Hubbard (just east of Dallas), Lake Lavon (northeast of Dallas), Lewisville Reservoir (northwest of Dallas), Grapevine Reservoir (just north of DFW), Eagle Mountain Lake (northwest of Fort Worth), Lake Worth (just north of Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth), Benbrook Lake (southwest of Fort Worth), Lake Arlington (southeast of Fort Worth), Mountain Creek Lake (southwest edge of Dallas), and Joe Pool Lake (an elongated lake just south of Mountain Creek Lake).