A Night View Around the Mediterranean Sea (High-res full image)
Source: Flickr / nasamarshall
London, United Kingdom from space
The image above shows London and the southern half of Great Britain as it appeared on the night of March 27, 2012. The image was acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on Suomi NPP, which includes a “day-night band”.
The day-night band observes light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared, and uses light intensification to enable the detection of dim signals.
Source: Flickr / gsfc
Montreal at Night
This astronaut photograph of the city lights of Montreal illustrates the extent of urbanization. Major roadways and industrial areas are traced by bright white lighting, while the adjacent residential and commercial lands are characterized by more diffuse yellow-gold lighting. Rivers and other water bodies appear black, while the surrounding countryside is faintly illuminated by moonlight. Blurry areas at image top and bottom right are caused by cloud cover.
The International Space Station was located over the Pennsylvania-New York border (near Warren, Pa.) at the time this image was taken—a ground distance of approximately 600 kilometers (370 miles) southwest of Montreal. This distance from the camera target, coupled with the oblique (inclined) viewing angle from the ISS, results in the foreshortened appearance of urban areas in the image.
Source: Flickr / gsfc
