The Earth at Night Poster

You'll love our poster of this particular image, used by countless web sites...as we have given additional that would make it a beautiful addition to your decor. In this particular night image of the Earth map you can see the locations of permanent lights on the Earth's surface, and identify the regions of our planet that we occupy. t has been necessary to convert various NASA images into this projection because originally the many different images didn't match. The final map conists of 87.970 images. The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated (compare western Europe with China and India). Cities tend to grow along coastlines and transportation networks. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian railroad is a thin line stretching from Moscow through the center of Asia to Vladivostok. The Nile River, from the Aswan Dam to the Mediterranean Sea, is another bright thread through an otherwise dark region. Some regions remain thinly populated and unlit. Antarctica is entirely dark. The interior jungles of Africa and South America are mostly dark. Deserts in Africa, Arabia, Australia, Mongolia, and the United States are poorly lit as well (except along the coast and rivers), along with the boreal forests of Canada and Russia, and the great mountains of the Himalaya. The detailed images of the cities were taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. These have been obtained from the Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.".