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.
2022 February 13
Earth at Night
Image Credit:
NASA,
Suomi NPP VIIRS;
Data: Miguel Román
(NASA GSFC);
Processing: Joshua Stevens
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 featured image, nicknamed
Black Marble,
is actually a composite of hundreds of pictures
remade in 2016 from data taken by the orbiting
Suomi NPP
satellite.
Tomorrow’s picture: space for the heart
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
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