Even birds cannot see the Earth like this. Only astronauts can see all the greatness and beauty of our planet. Photos created using professional equipment can truly surprise. All photographs were taken, which makes the appearance of our planet even more fabulous and even fantastic.
The most big cities the planets amaze with an abundance of lights. In the middle of a dark space that is completely immersed in the darkness of the night, cities look like giant lanterns of bizarre shapes and with an unusual pattern. It’s simply amazing how much energy humanity produces, because at night literally the entire space of the unlit planet turns into a scattering of bright lights and huge areas of lights. People have literally changed the surface of the planet beyond recognition. Just a few centuries ago it was simply impossible to see this.
Next you can see photographs of cities around the world at night from space. The pictures are so accurate and detailed that it is quite possible that you will be able to find the place where you live, or the places you once visited. In some photographs you can distinguish not only roads and neighborhoods, but even individual houses. Some cities look like real chaos and a crazy interweaving of streets, while others seem to be built according to strict drawings. Some look like smooth circles with a bright center, while others look like random blots or lines stretched along the coast.
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Cities from space at night with photo titles
Volgograd
Krasnodar
NASA astronomers have presented a new look at Earth: with the help of a recently launched satellite, they were able to show with unprecedented clarity what the planet looks like at night. In addition to the “glow” of cities, supersensitive equipment also captured the lights of ships plowing rivers at night, and torches in oil and gas fields, notes NASA’s website.
NASA astronomers have presented a new look at Earth: with the help of a recently launched satellite, they were able to show with unprecedented clarity what the planet looks like at night. Photo: nasa.gov
The Suomi NPP satellite, equipped with the ultra-sensitive VIIRS radiometer, was launched last year. To capture every piece of land and all the islands, the satellite needed to orbit the Earth 312 times. The photographs taken in cloudless weather in April and October 2012 were combined with photographs from 40 years ago - then the Apollo 17 team took the famous photographs of the Earth, calling them “blue marble,” Reuters clarifies. By analogy, the current footage of the night planet is nicknamed “black marble.”
For all the reasons we need to observe the Earth during the day, we need to observe it at night. Photo: nasa.gov
The Earth has been photographed from satellites for about 40 years (including for the purpose of weather forecasting). However, Suomi NPP is the first device that is designed to take photographs specifically at night. "For all the reasons we need to observe Earth during the day, we need to observe it at night," said Suomi NPP satellite scientist Steve Miller. “Unlike people, the Earth never sleeps,” Miller added.
Unlike people, the Earth never sleeps. Photo: nasa.gov
At first glance at the night planet, it is noticeable that it glows extremely heterogeneously: “In some places, the glowing city resembles a lone star in the night sky, in others it resembles a dense cluster of galaxies,” notes NASA.
The navigable rivers are highlighted in a surprising way - for example, the Nile is very different from the general background. Also at night from space it is clear that humanity is still limited to natural landscapes, NASA notes, showing an aerial view of the Himalayas. In addition, “black marble” in some way reflected the political problems of the modern world: for example, the photographs contrast sharply between North and South Korea, and in the Middle East, clusters of lights - torches in oil and gas developments - stand out, the authors explain.
The device has already been tested for meteorological purposes: Suomi NPP presented scientists with an aerial view of Hurricane Sandy, which hit the east coast of the United States on October 29. The satellite's camera also captured the impact of the disaster, because in the first days of the storm, millions of people were left without electricity, and there were significantly fewer lights in the night.
To obtain such unprecedented clarity at night, the satellite’s equipment operates differently than a conventional camera. Suomi NPP cameras photograph the opening panorama in small sections, and then these pixels are combined into an overall picture. Each fragment is considered separately - if the frame turns out to be too dark or too light, it has to be improved to the desired quality. In addition, the satellite operates three cameras simultaneously so that the best shot can be selected.
Night glow of Europe, Asia and Africa in the image of the Suomi-NPP satellite. (NASA Earth Observatory)
North and South America. (NASA Earth Observatory)
Asia, Australia and Oceania. (NASA Earth Observatory)
World glow map. (NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC)
Night glow of Western Europe. (NASA Earth Observatory)
NASA astronomers have presented a new look at Earth: with the help of a recently launched satellite, they were able to show with unprecedented clarity what the planet looks like at night. In addition to the “glow” of cities, supersensitive equipment also captured the lights of ships plowing rivers at night, and torches in oil and gas fields, notes NASA’s website.
NASA astronomers have presented a new look at Earth: with the help of a recently launched satellite, they were able to show with unprecedented clarity what the planet looks like at night. Photo: nasa.gov
The Suomi NPP satellite, equipped with the ultra-sensitive VIIRS radiometer, was launched last year. To capture every piece of land and all the islands, the satellite needed to orbit the Earth 312 times. The photographs taken in cloudless weather in April and October 2012 were combined with photographs from 40 years ago - then the Apollo 17 team took the famous photographs of the Earth, calling them “blue marble,” Reuters clarifies. By analogy, the current footage of the night planet is nicknamed “black marble.”
For all the reasons we need to observe the Earth during the day, we need to observe it at night. Photo: nasa.gov
The Earth has been photographed from satellites for about 40 years (including for the purpose of weather forecasting). However, Suomi NPP is the first device that is designed to take photographs specifically at night. "For all the reasons we need to observe Earth during the day, we need to observe it at night," said Suomi NPP satellite scientist Steve Miller. “Unlike people, the Earth never sleeps,” Miller added.
Unlike people, the Earth never sleeps. Photo: nasa.gov
At first glance at the night planet, it is noticeable that it glows extremely heterogeneously: “In some places, the glowing city resembles a lone star in the night sky, in others it resembles a dense cluster of galaxies,” notes NASA.
The navigable rivers are highlighted in a surprising way - for example, the Nile is very different from the general background. Also at night from space it is clear that humanity is still limited to natural landscapes, NASA notes, showing an aerial view of the Himalayas. In addition, “black marble” in some way reflected the political problems of the modern world: for example, the photographs contrast sharply between North and South Korea, and in the Middle East, clusters of lights - torches in oil and gas developments - stand out, the authors explain.
The device has already been tested for meteorological purposes: Suomi NPP presented scientists with an aerial view of Hurricane Sandy, which hit the east coast of the United States on October 29. The satellite's camera also captured the impact of the disaster, because in the first days of the storm, millions of people were left without electricity, and there were significantly fewer lights in the night.
To obtain such unprecedented clarity at night, the satellite’s equipment operates differently than a conventional camera. Suomi NPP cameras photograph the opening panorama in small sections, and then these pixels are combined into an overall picture. Each fragment is considered separately - if the frame turns out to be too dark or too light, it has to be improved to the desired quality. In addition, the satellite operates three cameras simultaneously so that the best shot can be selected.
Night glow of Europe, Asia and Africa in the image of the Suomi-NPP satellite. (NASA Earth Observatory)
North and South America. (NASA Earth Observatory)
Asia, Australia and Oceania. (NASA Earth Observatory)
World glow map. (NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC)
Night glow of Western Europe. (NASA Earth Observatory)
We present to your attention 30 of the best photos of views of the night side of the Earth, taken since May 1, 2003 from the ISS. Photos taken from album from Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA
(Total 30 photos)
1. Aurora over New Zealand, Tasman Sea. (NASA)
2. Milan, Italy, February 22, 2011. The lights of Milan resemble a checkered fabric pattern. Bright white lights are the historical center of the city, where the Milan Cathedral is located. The dark areas in the north are fields separating small towns. Due to low clouds, some areas appear blurry. Milan is the largest city in Italy and the fifth largest in the European Union. It is one of Europe's transport, commercial and industrial centers and a global center for fashion and culture. The Globalization and World Cities Network has classified it as "alpha". (NASA)
3. Tokyo, January 9, 2011. The photo was taken from a height of 350 km above the Earth. Most of the area in the photo belongs to Tokyo. On the left, just below the middle of the photo, is Yokohama. (NASA)
5. Europe and Africa, October 28, 2010. At the top of the photo is the “boot” of Italy and Sicily. Most visible bodies of water are the Mediterranean Sea. To the right of the center is the Adriatic Sea. Part of Tunisia is visible on the left. In the foreground is a docked Russian ship and parts of the ISS. (NASA)
6. City lights near the Italian-French border, April 28, 2011. The ones that stand out the most are Torino (Italy), Lyon and Marseille (France). The island of Corsica is visible at the top of the photo. The surface of the water reflects the bright light of the full moon. At the moment the photo was taken, the ISS was over Luxembourg. Astronauts often take photographs in which moonlight reflected from the Earth's surface is directed directly at them. That is, when taking photographs, they look forward, and not vertically at what is directly below the station. (NASA)
7. Las Vegas, Nevada, November 30, 2010. The dark desert is a contrasting background for the brightly lit regular network of city streets. Downtown Las Vegas is considered the brightest place on Earth, due to the numerous lights of hotels and casinos. McCarran Airport and Nellis Air Force Base appear dark compared to the city streets. To take such a picture at night, astronauts need to manually track the object being photographed with the camera, since the station is moving at a speed of 7 km/sec relative to the Earth's surface. (NASA)
9. Brasilia, Brazil, January 8, 2011. From orbit, the capital of Brazil cannot be confused with another city, day or night. It is located on a plateau in the west-central part of the country and is considered one of the best examples of urban planning of the 20th century. One of the distinctive features of the city when viewed from above is the silhouette of a bird (or airplane, or butterfly) moving from northwest to southeast. In the 1960s, other settlements began to grow around the city, and soon satellite cities appeared near the capital. The large unlit area at the bottom left of the photo is a Brazilian National Park. Other dark areas are fields or tropical savanna. (NASA)
11. India-Pakistan border, August 21, 2011. On the Indo-Gangetic Plain, of the hundreds of luminous spots, the largest are Islamabad (Pakistan) and New Delhi (India). These cities are located approximately 700 km from each other. Roads connecting major cities are also clearly visible. To the north (on the left side of the image) the cloud-covered Himalayas are visible. The orange stripe is the brightest part of the image - the India-Pakistan border. The barriers and bright lighting on it are designed to prevent smuggling and illegal arms trade between countries. (NASA)
12. Montreal, December 24, 2010. Montreal is the largest city in French-speaking Quebec and the second in the country after Toronto. Major roads and industrial areas are highlighted in white, while residential and commercial areas are illuminated in golden yellow. Rivers and other bodies of water appear black, the earth is illuminated by moonlight. The blur on the left side of the photo is caused by cloudiness. (NASA)
14. Northwestern Europe, August 10, 2011. London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam are clearly visible. Milan is also visible in the lower left. For scale, the centers of London and Paris are 340 km apart. (NASA)
18. Atlantic coast of Europe and Africa, May 11, 2010. City lights can be traced from Lisbon, across the Strait of Gibraltar and down to the Moroccan coast of Casablanca. (NASA)
19. Southern part of Italy, June 11, 2011. The lower part of the "boot" and Sicily are illuminated by the lights of Naples, Bara and Brindisi. The Adriatic, Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas appear black. The lights of Palermo and Catania can be seen in the bottom center of the photo. (NASA)
20. Florida Peninsula, December 28, 2010. On the left side (on the Atlantic coast) the lights of the brightly lit Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center are clearly visible. (NASA)
21. Houston, Texas, February 8, 2010. Houston has been called the "energy capital of the world" because of its role in the production of gasoline and other energy products. Houston's area is almost 2,331,000 hectares, with an average altitude of just 13 meters above sea level and a population of 5 million people. (NASA)