New stunning nighttime views of Earth

[Hum]

Scientists unveiled today an unprecedented new look at our planet at night. A global composite image, constructed using cloud-free night images from a new NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite, shows the glow of natural and human-built phenomena across the planet in greater detail than ever before.

With a new sensor aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite launched last year, scientists now can observe Earth's atmosphere and surface during nighttime hours.

The new sensor, the day-night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), is sensitive enough to detect the nocturnal glow produced by Earth's atmosphere and the light from a single ship in the sea. Satellites in the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program have been making observations with low-light sensors for 40 years. But the VIIRS day-night band can better detect and resolve Earth's night lights.

The new, higher resolution composite image of Earth at night was released at a news conference at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. This and other VIIRS day-night band images are providing researchers with valuable data for a wide variety of previously unseen or poorly seen events.

more and video

Hi-rez: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/712129main_8247975848_88635d38a1_o.jpg

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/712128main_8246889227_3bc86df977_o.jpg

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/712130main_8246931247_e60f3c09fb_o.jpg

:o

[Growled Member]

Beautiful images.

[Pam14160]

Thank you Hum, it is always nice to see just how far humans have come. . . :)

[Veiva]

I tend to love your posts, Hum, and this is no exception. I now have a new wallpaper (the one that's a view of the entire world)!

[DrJohnSmitherson]

That's incredible! So amazing!

[Growled Member]

It's sort of sad to see so much of the world dark.

[Hum]

^ What amazes me is, why so much light goes UP ....

[Charisma Veteran]

I tend to love your posts, Hum, and this is no exception. I now have a new wallpaper (the one that's a view of the entire world)!

Ditto!