This before-and-after comparison below shows composite nighttime views of India and surrounding areas in 20. Satellite images of Earth at night - often referred to as night lights - have been a source of curiosity for public and a tool for fundamental research for nearly 25 years.Īnd now, NASA has released broad, beautiful pictures of night lights as observed in 2016, as well as a revised version of the 2012 map of different countries including India showing how humans have shaped the planet and lit up the darkness. NASA scientists on the verge of providing daily, high- definition views of Earth at night.(NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens) The mission is managed by NASA with operational support from NOAA and its Joint Polar Satellite System, which manages the satellite's ground system.NASA scientists on Thursday released new global maps of Earth at night, providing the clearest yet composite view of the patterns of human settlement across our planet. Suomi NPP sends its data once per orbit to a ground station in Svalbard, Norway, and continuously to local direct broadcast users distributed around the world. The spacecraft flies 824 kilometres (512 miles) above the surface in a polar orbit, circling the planet about 14 times a day. Named for satellite meteorology pioneer Verner Suomi, NPP flies over any given point on the earth’s surface twice each day at roughly 1:30 am and 1:30 pm. In this case, auroras, fires, and other stray light have been removed to emphasize the city lights. VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as gas flares, auroras, wildfires, city lights, and reflected moonlight. The night time view of the earth was made possible by the 'day-night band' of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. It took 312 orbits and 2.5 terabytes of data to get a clear shot of every parcel of the earth’s land surface and islands. English: This image of the earth at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite over nine days in April 2012 and thirteen days in October 2012.

Night satellite view of earth