If you’ve ever wondered what all those bright city lights looked like from space, today is your lucky day. NASA has released a new set of images that showcase the Earth in all its nighttime glory. The new “Black Marble” images show networks of lights, wildfires and even the glow from natural light sources like the northern lights and moonlight. All of this was captured by the NASA-NOAA satellite, which has a extremely sensitive sensor. One of the brightest areas captured is the Eastern seaboard of North America.
NASA has been taking images of the Earth from space for 40 years, but this is the most detailed view of the Earth at night ever captured. With this new technology, scientists can now observe the Earth’s atmosphere at night and obtain important information to help forecast weather conditions.
These new images come nearly 40 years to the day after the Apollo 17 crew first snapped the famous “Blue Marble” image of the Earth on December 7, 1972. Take a look at the image from the 1970s to get an idea of just how far we have come!
[Photos courtesy of NASA]