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Wonder of Science

Earth at night viewed from space.

Credit: NASA Johnson

59 comments
Bartosz Bukowski :fuck_verify:

@wonderofscience any ideas about what's the lake at the end of the recording?

PB Livin'

@wonderofscience @b_bukowski Thanks for the reference point! Was hard to figure out what I was looking at, esp since it doesn't track with the Earth's rotation, it's not the "spinning globe" we're all used to seeing.

I think this is roughly the path it covers, yeah? Very cool to see Cairo and the Nile glowing in the sunset, and the moon's reflection sparkling in the rivers & lakes

JulieB

@wh0sthatd0g @wonderofscience @b_bukowski Well done! I couldn't even tell if the Earth was 'upright'! 😆

PB Livin'

@JulieB @wonderofscience @b_bukowski I kept looking for America as a landmark to recognize 🙃 Took me a while to realize it wasn't there 😅 couldn't have figured it out without the lake location

Jake Jarvis :jake:

@wonderofscience

this is unreal. 😲

as in literally, this doesn't look real. (I believe you though.)

Matt Stewart

@wonderofscience
This is breathtaking! Thanks for making this, NASA. Incredible.

RBz

@wonderofscience
😲 WOW!! I’m trying SO hard not to say that word “AMAZING” but of course it IS!

Paul Briley

@prettiest_star @wonderofscience
Composite picture of earth at night. What a waste, insensitive to the rest of life. Humanity's exceptionalism has a lot to answer for.

Manon

@prettiest_star @wonderofscience had the same thought. planet earth is not only burning in temperature.

DELETED

@wonderofscience That's stunning. What an amazing achievement of human intellect, curiosity, creativity and bravery.

Andrew

@wonderofscience What is the light phenomenon seen about mid screen to the right as the gif shows the African land mass? It seems to travel with the satellite.

Nomape

@wonderofscience amazing and stuning! And second time i saw the place were I live from space! That litle island in the mediterranean sea...

DELETED

@boxtheball @wonderofscience Looks to me like the reflection of the moon off the bodies of water.

Zoyd

@boxtheball @wonderofscience It's a reflection of the moon. It looks close to being full. You can see a clearer series of images of it towards the end of the video.

Andrew

@zoyd @wonderofscience Ok but I also see the light at a different position early in the GIF over the Sahara… but not continuously. What’s the source of the reflection here, and why is it at a different relative position?

Zoyd

@boxtheball @wonderofscience The same thing. Water. But in this case it's water in the atmosphere in the form of cloud cover. You will notice that it's a much fainter image because of this.

Andrew

@zoyd @wonderofscience Ok but please address the different relative position in the frame that is at a different longitude compared to the light at the end of the image. I still don’t understand that. The path of the Sahara light phenomenon does not seem to track with the later mid-continent phenomenon.

Zoyd

@boxtheball @wonderofscience As far as why the different relative position, that is beyond my knowledge base, but I would bet it has something to do with the geometry of the camera/earth/moon.

Andrew

@zoyd @wonderofscience Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate your willingness to help me understand.

KathrynS

@wonderofscience we’re a bit ‘sparkly’ down here, aren’t we ✨✨✨ we are lucky to have this wondrous planet tho 🌎

Albert

@wonderofscience Beautiful and relaxing view of our planet.

shukes

@wonderofscience Lovely, but we have to do something about light pollution.

Erica Evans 🇨🇦

@wonderofscience Isn’t our beautiful planet simply spectacular? We need to be better care takers.

Michael Schmid

Woah. Look at how thin the atmosphere around the Earth is! 🌍 Thanks @wonderofscience!

dogweather

@wonderofscience It's amazing to see the result of human development, lighting the darkness and improving our standard of living.

Likewise, the darkness and nothingness produced by the exploitive governments of Sudan and neighboring countries.

KevinOnEarth

@wonderofscience 💫 I'd love to have the full, real-time version as a wallpaper on my desktop!

Mike Flugennock

@wonderofscience I remember seeing some really nice, clear night orbital shots of Washington, DC taken from ISS.

I could find Lafayette Square. I could see where all the streets converged on the Capitol. I could spot my own block on my own street.

Steve

@wonderofscience
The reflection of what I presume is the Moon on the waters is particularly striking.

Tina C.💙🌻

@wonderofscience This is wild.

So that white spot on the right towards the end, which is under the clouds(?), is the moon reflecting off water?

Derek Reise

@wonderofscience So beautiful. And so much light pollution.

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