NASA’s “Black Marble” Photos of Earth At Night

NASA’s Night Photos

NASA just published some lovely photos of planet Earth at night, showing the many ways night images can be used for science, including seeing where people live, monitoring black-outs, viewing natural events, and even watching the Aurora lights. The images are made possible by a new sensor, the day-night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which can detect even the dim glow of a single ship in the middle of the ocean.

Scroll through to see these beautiful, interesting images and learn about the technology used to capture them.