Almost 40 years to the day after the Apollo 17 crew snapped the famed “blue marble” image of Earth floating in space on December 7, 1972, Nasa has unveiled “black marble” views of the planet by night. The cloud-free pictures, taken with a high-resolution visible and infrared imager aboard a NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite, capture the night lights of Earth in unprecedented detail. (Pix: NASA/Rex Features)
Full size, zoomable, full-screenable version here. (Thanks, Conski)
Black marble: new high-resolution satellite images of the Earth at night (Telegraph)
(Hat tip: Aaron McAllorum)
It looks like Lapis Lazuli, a sacred stone of the Tibetans, one that Buddhists used to meditate on to contemplate omniscient wisdom and compassion. Just sayin’
+1 Totally.
Amazing. Very strange how the Western Australian outback seems to be lit up though.
+1 Very Strange
I was thinking this. And the far north of India – one of the less populated places in that country
I remember reading this was due to wildfires across Western Australia..
Yep – wildfires it is, apparently.
…that’ll be gorse fires in Ventry so.
your dead right.. this is a load of ringpiece, a bit like that “moon landing” in 69.. these people make me sick. There must have been a broken fuse in south east asia that day, apart from java that looks like its partying since 1999 do do doo do do do…..
Full-sized, zoomable version is up here:
http://bit.ly/SI7Hbl
bit more user-friendly
Thanks!
Full-screen view is a real treat.
kildare makes it into space..
What are the lights in the middle of the North Sea?
Flares from oil and gas rigs.
I like the little trail of light between Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead. Looks like it’s a busy little shipping route at night?
The Nile is lit up brighter than anywhere else
40 million people living there.
Proof that Waterford and Kilkenny are towns
Yes, but where is it ? lines close as 12:00
What is the trail of lights in the east China sea south of Korea?