APOD: Earth at Night (2022 Feb 13)

[APOD Robot]

Earth at Night

Explanation: This is what the Earth looks like at night. Can you find your favorite country or city? Surprisingly, city lights make this task quite possible. Human-made lights highlight particularly developed or populated areas of the Earth's surface, including the seaboards of Europe, the eastern United States, and Japan. Many large cities are located near rivers or oceans so that they can exchange goods cheaply by boat. Particularly dark areas include the central parts of South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The featured image, nicknamed Black Marble, is actually a composite of hundreds of pictures remade in 2016 from data taken by the orbiting Suomi NPP satellite.

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[Ann]

So, I was on this bus. It may have been November, and it was getting dark. There was a young couple on the bus, a boy and a girl. Suddenly the girl said to the boy, Look at the Sun.

Image: Rachel Kramer/ CC BY 2.0

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And I looked. There it was, the Sun, round and yellow. And I thought to myself, dreamily, There is something wrong. The Sun is sick. It is so wan. The Sun is shining, but it's quite dark... I guess we are all going to die...

That's the Moon, said the boy. And the world snapped into place again.

Earth at Night. Image Credit: NASA, Suomi NPP VIIRS; Data: Miguel Román (NASA GSFC); Processing: Joshua Stevens

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But lo and behold, the Sun went out again. At least for this APOD. See for yourself, it's dark everywhere all at once! I guess someone put the Earth where the Sun doesn't shine!

Ann

[Ian Mackenzie]

It would be interesting to see this image in a projection which doesn't over-represent the poles and under represent the equator.

[VictorBorun]

It would be interesting to see this image in a projection which doesn't over-represent the poles and under represent the equator.

poorer quality here

[Ian Mackenzie]

Thanks, that's brilliant and certainly puts things in perspective.

[XgeoX]

So, I was on this bus. It may have been November, and it was getting dark. There was a young couple on the bus, a boy and a girl. Suddenly the girl said to the boy, Look at the Sun.

And I looked. There it was, the Sun, round and yellow. And I thought to myself, dreamily, There is something wrong. The Sun is sick. It is so wan. The Sun is shining, but it's quite dark... I guess we are all going to die...

That's the Moon, said the boy. And the world snapped into place again.

But lo and behold, the Sun went out again. At least for this APOD. See for yourself, it's dark everywhere all at once! I guess someone put the Earth where the Sun doesn't shine!

Ann

Good tale Ann and your last point reminds me of how I wonder they don’t do solar missions to the Sun’s nightside!

Eric

[orin stepanek]

A rerun; but a goody!

[bystander]

EarthAtNight2016_SuomiNPP_1080.jpg
A rerun; but a goody!

Yes, this has been the subject of APOD at least five times before

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001127.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040822.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081005.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121207.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170709.html

But this may be the first time this particular image has been used.

[bystander]

It would be interesting to see this image in a projection which doesn't over-represent the poles and under represent the equator.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/NightLights

Scroll down 2/3 toward the bottom

[Liz S.]

I love this graphic. I have used it for my computer Background image for several years.

It is amazing how much of the world you can recognize just from the lights... like the Nile River and the Florida Peninsula. It definitely gives you an idea of population density around the planet.

[Confused]

Yes it is interesting that Cairo is very lit up and that there are many lights down the Nile from Cairo.

It is also interesting that Taiwan and Hong Kong have many lights. North Korea is very dark.

[ptahhotep]

I spotted a light in the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands, which seemed unlikely. A quick check and the fact that the image dates from 2016 confirmed what it must be: the erupting volcano Havfruen Peak on Bristol Island as it did erupt that year.

[Chris Peterson]

I spotted a light in the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands, which seemed unlikely. A quick check and the fact that the image dates from 2016 confirmed what it must be: the erupting volcano Havfruen Peak on Bristol Island as it did erupt that year.

Possible. Also possible are lights from fishing boats, which are seen in a number of ocean locations.

[neufer]

I spotted a light in the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands, which seemed unlikely. A quick check and the fact that the image dates from 2016 confirmed what it must be: the erupting volcano Havfruen Peak on Bristol Island as it did erupt that year.

How about "Mount Sourabaya, a cone near the center of Bristol Island."

<<Bristol Island, near the southern end of the seven South Sandwich Islands in the isolated Southern Atlantic Ocean, lies 800 km SE of South Georgia Island at latitude 59° S. Historic eruptions occurred on Bristol Island in 1823, the 1930s, and the 1950s. A new eruption was reported from Mount Sourabaya, a cone near the center of the island, beginning at the end of April 2016. It produced ash plumes and strong thermal anomalies most likely generated by lava flows until the end of July 2016. Information about Bristol Island comes from NASA Earth Observatory and other satellite imagery data, and the Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC).>>

[zendae1]

I have a giant poster of somewhat of an opposite. Satellite shot of the entire Earth in daylight with no clouds anywhere.

Anyone notice no appreciable light in North Korea?