Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation:
This is what the
Earth
looks like at night.
Can you find your favorite
country or
city?
Surprisingly, city lights make this task quite possible.
Human-made
lights highlight particularly developed or
populated areas of the Earth's surface,
including the seaboards of Europe,
the eastern
United States, and
Japan.
Many
large cities are located near
rivers or
oceans
so that they can exchange goods cheaply by boat.
Particularly
dark areas include the central parts of South America, Africa,
Asia, and
Australia.
The above image is actually a composite of
hundreds of pictures made by the orbiting
DMSP satellites.
(Editor's note: Contrary to some recent
press reports, this site does not have a rotating screensaver version of
the above image. Also, unfortunately, we do not sell prints.
However, a high-resolution digital version of the image is available
(click here
or here) and
an Earth at Night poster similar to this image can be ordered
(click here)
from other web sites.
Authors & editors:
Robert
Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.:
Jay Norris.
Specific rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA/GSFC
&
Michigan Tech. U.