New stunning nighttime views of Earth unveiled
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Twinkling city lights, raging wildfires and colorful auroras are lit up in new dazzling nighttime views of the Earth.
The new images released Wednesday are courtesy of a newly launched NASA-NOAA satellite that's equipped with a sensor to observe the planet at night.
There's the Nile River bathed in city lights. A map of the United States shows the populated East Coast illuminated. Light from fishing boats can be pinpointed.
The satellite also captured the glow from natural sources including moonlight, northern lights and naturally-occurring fires.
After Superstorm Sandy made landfall in late October, hard-hit New Jersey, lower Manhattan and the Rockaways appeared dark in the satellite images compared with surrounding areas - the result of widespread power outages.
The new images released Wednesday are courtesy of a newly launched NASA-NOAA satellite that's equipped with a sensor to observe the planet at night.
There's the Nile River bathed in city lights. A map of the United States shows the populated East Coast illuminated. Light from fishing boats can be pinpointed.
The satellite also captured the glow from natural sources including moonlight, northern lights and naturally-occurring fires.
After Superstorm Sandy made landfall in late October, hard-hit New Jersey, lower Manhattan and the Rockaways appeared dark in the satellite images compared with surrounding areas - the result of widespread power outages.
There was a time long ago when the Milky Way could be seen from Bellevue. Â No more. Â
Photo shows a of a LOT of wasted energy sprayed uselessly into the sky. Â
They must have pretty nice, dark, night skies in N. Korea!
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That's kind of cool. You can (presumably) spot exatly where the Luxor is in Las Vegas.
And North Korea, that paradise of highly organized, non-capitalist central control, is still dark. Shocking.
 @RN1 oh god, with health care provided to poor children... we'll all be goose stepping soon for sure, the horror!
 @puyallup_person  @RN1 No one is against health care to poor children or the indigent. The question is the method to  pay for it.
 @RN1 Yes, but the rich pay their fair share. Of course, the rich and the poor are easily confused. I am sure that THIS time Obama's Ingsoc- style government will be different. Yes, the Democrat Paty is the Party of new ideas. 19th Century economic systems and choo-choo trains.
Ok, who left the lights on?