Earth At Night | Universe Today

Written by Fraser Cain

Here are some Earth at night pictures… from space!

This is an image of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, seen at night. You can see the regions of higher income and higher population density, like Europe and Japan. And then the regions of lower population – like the interior of Australia – and the regions of low income, like Africa.

Here's an image of Earth's night side captured by the ESA's Rosetta Spacecraft, which made a flyby of the planet on its way to rendezvous with Comet 67P.

This is an image of the entire United States at night. You can see the high population centers on both coasts of the US, and the lattice of highways that crisscross the country. If you live in the US, can you find your city?

This is an image of Tokyo, one of the most populous cities on Earth, photographed at night. This picture was taken by astronauts on board the International Space Station.

Here's a photograph of Buenos Aires in Argentina, taken at night. 12 million people in this city, almost 1/3rd of all Argentineans. The brightness of the lights match the population density of the city.

Here's the city of Dubai seen at night. You can see some major landmarks in the city, like the famous Palm Jumeirah; a group of artificial islands off the coast of the city.

We've written many articles about Earth at night for Universe Today. Here's an article about Earth pictures from space, at night, and here's an article about light pollution.

If you'd like more info on Earth, check out NASA's World Book on Earth. And here's a link to NASA's Earth Observatory.

We've also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about planet Earth. Listen here, Episode 51: Earth.

Filed under: Astronomy