We have taken 12-50 ns exposure duration images of 200-460 kbar shock loaded, single crystal sapphire (α-Al[SUB2]O[SUB3]) windows of the c-cut (0001), r-cut (1,-1,0,2) and a-cut (1,1,-2,0) orientations. We find that the spectra of the emission are broad and relatively featureless, extending at least from 760 to 280 nm. Images of this emission at the lower end of the stress range (200-220 kbar) show that it is spatially very heterogeneous, coming from a few seemingly-randomly distributed locations within the crystal. This emission heterogeneity becomes more fine-grained with increasing shock stress. Finally, the r-cut orientation produces significantly less emission than the other two orientations at the same stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]