Earth from Space: The pink city

This image, captured by the Pleiades Neo satellite mission, shows a detailed view of the city of Toulouse in southwest France, with its terracotta tiled rooftops lending it the nickname la ville rose, or the pink city.

Zoom in to explore this image at its full resolution.

One of the central features of Toulouse, as seen from above, is the Garonne river, which meanders through the city centre on its way from its source in the Pyrenees, to its estuary near Bordeaux. Numerous bridges span the Garonne and also connect the Ile Du Grand Ramier, a collection of river islands, south of Toulouse city centre, where the white oval of Toulouse Stadium is clearly visible.

Other features seen from space include the Brienne, Midi and Garonne canals, the Matabiau railway station at the top of the image, and the tree-lined avenues around the University of Toulouse, one of the oldest universities in Europe, near the circular Boulingrin public garden in the centre of the image.

While the city centre is densely packed with the characteristic red roofs, on the left side of the image near Matabiau station, a rectangular area appears almost grey – this is the city’s historic cemetery, Terre Cabade. Just visible in the top-left corner of the image is the Toulouse congress centre and Japanese gardens.

The two Pleiades Neo satellites, in orbit since 2021, capture Earth observation images with a resolution of up to 30 cm. The mission is part of ESA’s Third Party Missions programme, which means ESA uses its multi-mission ground systems and expertise to acquire, process, distribute and archive data from a wide range of satellite missions developed and operated by other agencies.

Source: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/10/Earth_from_Space_The_pink_city