                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2022 February 13

                               Earth at Night
    Image Credit: NASA, Suomi NPP VIIRS; Data: Miguel Román (NASA GSFC);
                         Processing: Joshua Stevens

   Explanation: This is what the Earth looks like at night. Can you find
   your favorite country or city? Surprisingly, city lights make this task
   quite possible. Human-made lights highlight particularly developed or
   populated areas of the Earth's surface, including the seaboards of
   Europe, the eastern United States, and Japan. Many large cities are
   located near rivers or oceans so that they can exchange goods cheaply
   by boat. Particularly dark areas include the central parts of South
   America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The featured image, nicknamed
   Black Marble, is actually a composite of hundreds of pictures remade in
   2016 from data taken by the orbiting Suomi NPP satellite.

                   Tomorrow's picture: space for the heart
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

