English: The continent of Europe lies between Asia and the Atlantic Ocean and covers an area of 3,997,929 square miles (10,355,000 square kilometers). It is the second smallest of the seven continents of the world – only Oceania has a smaller landmass – yet it is composed of fifty-three different countries. The boundaries of Europe are considered to be: from Iceland in the west to Russia’s Ural Mountains in the east, and from the island archipelago (Svalbard) in northern Norway south to Greece and Malta.

The term “Europe” has also been used in popular language to speak of the European Union (EU), although they are not the same. The EU is a political and economic endeavor comprised, currently, of twenty-eight countries each of which lies within Europe. The EU had its early beginnings in 1951 when six countries (France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) formed a cooperative union to share basic needs, such as coal.

On April 21, 2017, NASA’s Terra satellite flew over Europe, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard to capture a true-color image of part of the continent. The image centers on the country of France, although it also captures parts of several other countries of Western Europe. When the image was captured, France was greening from the springtime warmth and rain, as is typical in the month of April. Meanwhile, snow capped the high elevations of the Alps and the Pyrenes Mountains. The Pyrenees form the border between France and Spain, while the eastern boundary of France is found within the Alps.