Earth's Cities at Night: Photos From Space

With hardware from the Earth-orbiting International Space Station appearing in the near foreground, a night time European panorama reveals city lights from Belgium and the Netherlands at bottom center. The picture was taken by members of the space station's Expedition 30 crew on Jan. 22, 2012.

This labeled photo shows several cities in the American Midwest at night as seen by an astronaut on the International Space Station on Sept. 29, 2011. The artificial light from human settlements appears with a characteristic yellow tinge. The green light of the aurora borealis also shines brightly in this view—even seeming to reflect off Earth's surface in Canada. A small white patch of light is almost certainly lightning from a storm on the East coast (image top right). Part of the ISS appears across the top of the image. The cities of Chicago is at top center, with the cities of Omaha, Des Moines, St. Louis, Minneapolis and St. Paul also visible.

The Houston metropolitan area at night is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member on the International Space Station in early 2010, helping set a new record for most photos taken during a single space mission.

This photo taken by astronauts on the International Space Station shows the dazzling 'boot' of Italy lit up by city nights at night.

The U.S. city of Los Angeles shines bright in this nighttime photo taken by astronaut Ron Garan from the International Space Station on April 17, 2011 during the Expedition 27 mission. At the time it was 4:33 a.m. local time in Los Angeles as the space station soared 220 miles overhead.

Dawn breaks over California in the United States April 17, 2011 in this photo by NASA astronaut Ron Garan from the International Space Station. The lights of Los Angeles appear in the foreground while San Francisco appears in the back near the horizon.

NASA astronaut Ron Garan snapped this photo of San Francisco, Calif., on April 17, 2011 while flying aboard the International Space Station during the Expedition 27 mission. On the horizon, the bright blue glow – called airglow – shines just before sunrise over the Golden State. A bright planet is also visible.

This space sunrise photo shows Taiwan and the Philippines as they appeared to NASA astronaut Ron Garan on April 19, 2011, from a window on the International Space Station during the Expedition 27 flight.

The elusive sliver of light from a shadowed Earth is one of space tourist Guy Laliberte's most prized photos among those he took from the International Space Station in 2009.

Another shot #FromSpace Although it was a beautiful night in #Chicago just to the West big storms!

Another shot From Space yesterday just after sunset over Iran Can u find Syria, Baghdad Black Sea and Tbilisi ?

This satellite photo taken back in 1995 shows the extent of nighttime lights across the planet.

Monday, March 28, 2011: The city of Milan, Italy appears as a cluster of lights in this photograph, with brilliant white lights indicating the historic city center where the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral) stands. The Expedition 26 crew aboard the International Space Station took this picture on February 22, 2011.

--Tom Chao

Friday, May 27, 2011: This image taken by the Expedition 27 crew aboard the International Space Station shows the Atlantic Seaboard Conurbation (ASC). A conurbation refers to a region comprised of cities, towns, and urban areas that have merged together. This image shows all of the ASC except for Boston, Mass. At upper right lies New York City, N.Y., then to the left appears Philadelphia, Pa., Baltimore, Md., and Washington, D.C. On the left-hand border lies Richmond, Va., with Norfolk, Va. near at the bottom, although neither is included in the ASC.

—Tom Chao

Astronaut Soichi Noguchi snapped this picture of auroras over North America from the International Space Station. "Astro_Soichi," as he is known on Twitter, posted it to the internet on May 8, 2010. Lake Michigan is the dark area outlined by lights. Chicago, Illinois is represented by the bright concentration of lights adjoining the lake.

This picture shows astronaut Ron Garan on his last day at the International Space Station before returning to Earth in September 2011. He posted the picture on Twitter, writing "That's me in the cupola of the International Space Station off the coast of Australia taking my last of over 25,000 pics that I still want to share w/ everyone."

This image shows Earth’s human-generated nighttime lights for the calendar year 2003, based on observations by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Line Scanner. In this image, oceans appear black, landmasses appear in varying shades of blue, and lights appear yellow-white. Because these images focus on human impact, they do not include other (natural) light sources. Besides assembling cloud-free images, data visualizers carefully excluded sunlight, moonlight, and light from the Northern Hemisphere aurora. The most intensely lit areas include the eastern half of the United States, southeastern Canada, Western Europe, Japan, and parts of Southeast Asia. Lights also line several coasts, including the western United States, Arabian Peninsula, and eastern Mediterranean. Additionally, patches of bright lights appear along the coasts of Australia, Brazil, Nigeria, and Cameroon. A flurry of lights delineates the Nile Delta.