Dubai's Palm Jumeirah is so massive it remains visible from space more than two decades after it was built

From the ground, Dubai's Palm Jumeirah is an impressive luxury destination lined with hotels, villas and beaches.

But from hundreds of kilometres above Earth, it reveals its true scale.

The palm tree-shaped artificial island, built entirely through land reclamation, is one of the few human-made structures that is instantly recognisable in satellite images and photographs taken from the International Space Station.

More than two decades after construction began, Palm Jumeirah continues to fascinate scientists, astronauts and engineers alike.

Modern satellites from the European Space Agency (ESA) regularly capture the island alongside Dubai's ever-expanding coastline, highlighting how human engineering has permanently reshaped part of the Persian Gulf.Why Dubai's Palm Jumeirah remains one of the world's most recognisable engineering marvels from orbitThe Palm Jumeirah was conceived in the early 2000s as an ambitious land reclamation project to expand Dubai's coastline.