English: On September 5, 2018, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite flew over New Zealand and was able to acquire a true-color image of the southern tip of South Island as it peaked out between banks of cloud.

Snow covers the high peaks of the Southern Alps – one of the most stunning and quintessential features of South Island. The highest peak in the range – and in New Zealand – is Mount Aoraki (Mount Cook), which rises about 12,218 feet (3,724 meters). In this image, Aoraki sits covered by bright white snow, with the peak near the northern end of the long, bright blue Lake Pukaki.

The massive mountain juxtaposed with the stunningly beautiful and glacier-fed Lake Pukaki has inspired awe and legends through centuries. Today, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park is a popular tourist destination, but, according to the New Zealand Tourism website, the mountain was central to the lives of the Ngai Tahu tribe, who first visited South Island more than 800 years ago and made it their home. An Ngai Tahu legend describes how the great ancestor, Aoraki, and his three brothers – all sons of Rakinui, the Sky Father - voyaged out the open oceans. One day their canoe overturn on a reef. The brothers climbed on top of the overturned canoe and as they stood there, the freezing south wind turned them to stone. In legend, their canoe became the South Island, while Aoraki and his brothers became the tall peaks of the Southern Alps.