Satellite Photo of the World at Night

This map shows the geographic distribution of cities. It clearly shows that cities are concentrated in Europe, the eastern United States, Japan, China and India. It is a better map for showing the geography of night time electricity consumption for outdoor lighting than it is for showing the geography of population. For example: the eastern United States is very bright but the more densely populated areas of China and India are not nearly as bright in this image (NASA Image)
Satellite Photo of the United States at Night

This map shows the geographic distribution of night time lights in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Strong lights occur in a strand that includes Washington, DC, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City and Boston. Most of the large cities of Canada are located within a couple hundred miles of the United States border. Chicago stands out on the shoreline of Lake Michigan and other major cities in the central states are collected by a network of highways. On the west coast, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego stand out. The coastlines of Florida and Puerto Rico are lined with bright cities. Finally, the cities of Hawaii and oil facilities of the north Alaska coast are also "visible from space"(NASA Image)
Satellite Photo of Europe and Africa at Night

Western Europe is aglow with night lights. This image clearly shows that the cities of Europe are along the coasts. The Mediterranean coasts of Italy, France and Spain are a solid line of light as is the southern shorelines of the Black and Caspian Seas. The Sahara of northern Africa and the jungles of south-central Africa are largely void of illuminated cities. One of the most striking features on this image is the high concentration of cities on the Nile River, downstream from the Aswan Dam( NASA Image)
Satellite Photo of South America at Night

Satellite Photo of Asia and Australia at Night
