GeoEye

A picture taken by the GeoEye 1 satellte on Nov. 4, 2010, shows the Gemasolar power-generating array in Seville, Spain. At the center of the array is a 40-story-high concrete tower, ringed by 2,650 mirrors. The mirrors focus sunlight on the tower, which stores the heat and converts it to energy.

Will future archaeologists assume this circular structure was some sort of 21st-century Stonehenge? They wouldn't be completely wrong if they did: This is Spain's Gemasolar power-generating array, as seen in a satellite image from the GeoEye commercial Earth-imaging venture.

Like Stonehenge, the array is laid out geometrically to track the position of the sun. But Gemasolar isn't meant to mark the year's astronomical milestones. Instead, it will concentrate sunlight to provide power for 25,000 homes around the city of Seville.

The light is focused by 2,650 large mirrors on a 450-foot-high concrete tower, with a central core that heats up to 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit (900 degrees Celsius). The energy is transferred to molten salt for storage, and the heat of the salt drives steam turbines that generate electricity even when the sun isn't shining. The $325 million plant had its official inauguration in October and is due to reach full operation in 2013. At its peak, the concentrated solar-power plant should be able to produce 19.9 megawatts of power.

Check out this previous PhotoBlog posting for ground-level pictures of the array, and watch this video to learn more about the Gemasolar project:

Today's view of a solar power plant from space is the latest offering from the Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar, which has been presenting images of Earth from space every day this month. It's also one of the pictures featured in GeoEye's 2012 calendar. You'll find more satellite views on the GeoEye High Resolution Imagery blog.

Only three more treats remain to be revealed on this year's Space Advent Calendar. Catch up on the pictures you may have missed:

• The full Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar
• Dec. 1: An ornament in outer space
• Dec. 2: The masses in Mecca
• Dec. 3: Santa's shrinking domain
• Dec. 4: The monster of Madagascar
• Dec. 5: Antarctica stripped naked
• Dec. 6: Streaking for home
• Dec. 7: Pearl Harbor from above, 1941-2011
• Dec. 8: The rise and fall of the Dead Sea
• Dec. 9: How an eclipse dims Earth
• Dec. 10: Psychedelic storm
• Dec. 11: Beauty of the Inland Sea
• Dec. 12: Drone-spotting stirs up debate
• Dec. 13: Light up your St. Lucy's Day
• Dec. 14: Satellite spots Chinese aircraft carrier
• Dec. 15: Hooray for Hollywood
• Dec. 16: Olympics under construction
• Dec. 17: Mystery in the Gobi Desert
• Dec. 18: Glow over Miami
• Dec. 19: North Korea's dark ages
• Dec. 20: Happy Hanukkah from space
• Dec. 21: Season's tiltings
• Hubble calendar, from The Atlantic's In Focus
• 2011 Zooniverse Advent calendar

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images

The Stadium light go out in the second quarter during the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park on Monday night.

AP reports:

 Two power outages delayed the Niners' Monday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, first just before kickoff and again early in the second quarter after the stadium moved to a backup power source.

 NFL security chief Jeff Miller said he witnessed a transformer blow up while he was monitoring a gate outside the stadium, where a shooting during the preseason already put a negative light on this venue.

Read the full story here.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Tobias Schwarz / Reuters

Left to right, France's Prime Minister Francois Fillon German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pose to mark the opening of the North Sea gas pipeline on Germany's Baltic coast in Lubmin November 8, 2011.

 The German, French, Russian and Dutch leaders opened the North Sea gas pipeline on Germany's Baltic coast. 

Many years ago, while working as a newspaper photographer, our editor outlawed check-passings, ground-breakings and all other  made-for-press events. What do you think about photos like these?

Julio Munoz / EPA

General view of the first solar power plant by concentration with a central tower receiver, inagurated in Sevilla, southern Spain, on 04 October.

Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters

Photographers and a cameraman work at the new solar power plant "Gemasolar" the day of its inauguration in Fuentes de Andalucia, southern Spain October 4, 2011.

Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters

The new solar power plant "Gemasolar" is pictured the day of its inauguration in Fuentes de Andalucia, southern Spain October 4.

Here's more about this solar power plant and how it produces electricity after the sun goes down.

Those of us who’ve been to North Dakota know what a lonely place it can be. I’ll never forget the first time I visited my in-laws wheat farm near New England, N.D. You have to drive miles and miles along some of the loneliest stretches of road in the country to get there. Don’t even get me started on what the winters are like. Cold might not have been invented there, but they’ve perfected it.

You’ve got to be a hearty soul to make it in North Dakota, and that is why I was attracted to the pictures that AP’s Gregory Bull made for his “Man camp” story. Bull does a good job of depicting the work and temporary home life of the oil workers.

Gregory Bull / AP

Ben Shaw hangs from an oil derrick outside of Williston, N.D. With what many are calling the largest oil boom in recent North American history, temporary housing for the huge influx of workers, known as "man camps," now dot the sparse North Dakota landscape.

Gregory Bull / AP

A man walks back to his temporary housing unit outside of Williston, N.D.

AP’s Martha Irvine reports:

After a 12-hour day, Jacob Austin, a 22-year-old line cook at the camp, stands on a pile of rocks in the camp parking lot, playing his guitar.

"I could tell you the worst thing about a man camp. It's a man camp, and not a woman camp."

He pauses, strums his guitar some more, and smiles at a female reporter.

"It's nice to see you here." Read More...

Gregory Bull / AP

Jacob Austin plays his guitar in a field next to a temporary housing unit outside of Williston, N.D. on July 25, 2011.

Slideshow: World’s thirst for oil

Rupak De Chowdhuri / Reuters

Around the globe countries are drilling for it, distributing it, trading it and looking for ways to run their economies with replacements for it.

Launch slideshow

Toru Hanai / Reuters

A worker walks among solar panels at a solar power field in Kawasaki, Japan on June 27, 2011. Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. and Kawasaki City are constructing two mega solar power fields which will produce some 2 million kWh in an area totaling roughly 74 acres.

Toru Hanai / Reuters

Workers install a solar panel at a solar power field in Kawasaki on June 27.

Read more about Japan's turn away from nuclear power following the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami that resulted in an ongoing nuclear disaster.

Abdelhak Senna / AFP - Getty Images

Solar panels of the Ain Beni Mathar power station are seen on May 31, 2011. The plant has a large array of 224 parabolic mirror collectors that concentrate solar energy. Two other plants with similar designs will soon be commissioned in Egypt and Algeria.

Abdelhak Senna / AFP - Getty Images

A Moroccan engineer cycles past the solar panels on May 31.

The World Bank reports on its website:
The Concentrated Solar Power plant of Ain Beni Mathar is now supplying electricity to the Moroccan grid. Located in the East of Morocco near the Algerian border, it will provide numerous lessons for further diffusion of concentrated solar power technology.