An astronaut aboard the International Space Station photographed Monterrey on 26 August 2026, NASA's Earth Observatory reported on 11 September 2026. The image shows the curving, parallel ridges of the Sierra Madre Oriental meeting Mexico's second-largest metropolitan area.

Monterrey, capital of Nuevo León, is an industrial hub with ironworks, steelworks and manufacturing. The metropolitan area had 5.3 million residents in the 2020 census. The report says the city has grown overall since 1990, while the number of people living within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the city center has declined. Limestone layers along the southern edge were folded between about 80 and 50 million years ago, and erosion left the ridgelines seen today. The Río Santa Catarina runs through the urban core and between folded rock formations, including the Sierra Las Mitras reserve, established in 2000.

The observatory also noted that Universidad de Monterrey is a host venue for the NASA Space Apps Challenge, planned for November 2026 in person and virtually at sites worldwide.