Taking a Gander at Utah’s Goosenecks

The San Juan River has carved deep, improbably curvy meanders into the desert landscape. Tens of millions of years ago, the San Juan River in what is now southern Utah shared some characteristics with today's Mississippi River. In a bygone geologic era, the San Juan flowed across a relatively flat plain that formed in an ancient marine environment. Unencumbered by rugged terrain, the river was free to take a long,meandering pathon itsgradual journeydownslope. But this part of the San Juan changed when geologic forces pushed the Colorado Plateau upward. Some experts think that within the later stages of this “still-enigmatic” history, starting around 20 million years ago, the plateau’s riseelevated the San Juan’s headwaters, which increased the river’sgradientand sped its flow. With that, the water’s erosive power intensified, and the river started carving its winding path deeper and deeper through 300-million-year-old rock. Today, on its westward path to Lake Powell, the San Juan River flows through an impressive series of entrenched meanders, also known as “goosenecks.” An astronaut aboard the International Space Station photographed the stark desert topography on October 6, 2026. In Utah’sGoosenecks State Park, the river runs through a canyon 1,000 feet (300 meters) deep. In places, it nearly loops back on itself, making horseshoe-shaped bends. One section is so curvy that the river travels 5.5 miles (8.9 kilometers) between two points that are only 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometers) apart as the crow—nay, goose—flies. While the goosenecks are an unusual geologic wonder to behold by day, the area’s dark skies are a spectacle by night. Goosenecks State Park’s remote, high-desert location and 360-degree views of the sky helped earn it anInternational Dark Sky Parkdesignation in 2021. According to DarkSky International, features such as theDouble Cluster in Perseusand theMessier 24 star cloudin the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way are visible to the unaided eye from the park. InNovember 2026, dark skies offer the chance to view several meteor showers, with the Northern Taurids, Southern Taurids, and Leonids reaching their peaks throughout the month. Astronaut photographISS075-E-188830was acquired on October 6, 2026, with a Nikon Z9 digital camera using a focal length of 400 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of theExpedition 75crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. TheInternational Space Station Programsupports the laboratory as part of theISS National Labto help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSCGateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Photo byBob Wick (BLM), via Flickr. Story by Lindsey Doermann. Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet. Snow-capped mountains carved by deep river valleys preside over northwestern Washington state. The meandering Congaree River sustains towering forest ecosystems and fashions oxbow lakes as it shifts across its floodplain. Over the years, astronauts aboard the International Space Station have photographed several of the cities hosting the 2026 FIFA World… Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox. NASA's Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery. Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data