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  • The Earth at night
  • Africa, Europe, and the Middle East
  • Asia and Australia
  • City lights
  • City lights of the U.S. in 2012
  • A flat map of city lights
  • Auroras light up the Antarctic night
  • Polar darkness
  • Marine layer clouds off the California Coast
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NASA releases incredible views of the Earth at night (pictures)

The Earth at night

In stunning new images of Earth taken at night, the Suomi NPP satellite shows how the lights from our cities illuminate the black marble globe. The composite image, taken in April and October, was mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet.

The nighttime view was made possible by the new satellite's "day-night band" of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight.
Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory

Africa, Europe, and the Middle East

Africa, Europe, and the Middle East are seen in this nighttime view of Earth which NASA is calling the "Black Marble."
Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory

Asia and Australia

Asia and Australia are seen in this nighttime view of Earth which NASA is calling the "Black Marble."
Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory

City lights

The night side of Earth twinkles with the light, and the first thing to stand out is the cities. "Nothing tells us more about the spread of humans across the Earth than city lights," asserts Chris Elvidge, an NOAA scientist who has studied them for 20 years.
Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory

City lights of the U.S. in 2012

This image of the United States at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October. The image was made possible by the new satellite's "day-night band" of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight.

See the full-sized version of the image here.
Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory

A flat map of city lights

A flat map of Earth's city lights in 2012. See the full-sized image here.
Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory

Auroras light up the Antarctic night

On July 15, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of the aurora australis, or "southern lights," over Antartica's Queen Maud Land and the Princess Ragnhild Coast.
Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory

Polar darkness

Scientists monitored the Arctic with particular interest in the summer of 2012, when Arctic sea ice set a new record low, in this image captured October 30, 2012.
Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory

Marine layer clouds off the California Coast

On September 27, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of low-lying marine layer clouds along the coast of California.
Photo by: NASA Earth Observatory

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