Earth from Space: Vienna’s Danube divide

A close-up view of Vienna, Austria’s capital city, is featured in this image from April 2025.

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Vienna lies in the northeastern corner of Austria and straddles the famous Danube River, Europe’s second longest river, which can be seen running across the bottom right corner of the image. A flood-control canal flows east of the main river branch, creating a narrow island, approximately 21 km long and up to 230 m wide, which is used mainly for recreational use. 

On the right, a smaller branch of the Danube forms a few islands, which are part of the Kaisermühlen neighbourhood, in the Donaustadt district. This area hosts the Vienna International Centre, one of the four major United Nations headquarters worldwide, whose modern buildings are visible in the centre of the image.

Next to the UN headquarters, the polygonal roof of the Austria Center Vienna can be seen in light blue. Here, ESA’s Living Planet Symposium – one of the largest Earth observation conferences in the world – will take place on 23–27 June. 

Held every three years, the symposium brings together scientists and researchers, as well as industry and users of Earth observation data, from all over the world to present and discuss the latest findings on Earth science and how Earth observation contributes to both science and society. As many as 6000 participants are expected from up to 119 countries, including at least 800 members of the scientific community. 

Organised with the support of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency and Austria’s Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, the week-long event focuses on how we can work together in the fields of Earth science to promote effective climate action to address the environmental crisis. The full programme is available at the Living Planet Symposium website. 

Watch the Living Planet Symposium opening session live on Monday 23 June, starting at 10:30 CEST. Selected sessions will be streamed live from Vienna on ESA WebTV.