Composite Of Earth At Night

Michael! by pjt33 · 2004-08-23 00:24 · Score: 5, Funny

How could you allow a link to a 40MB file into a /. article? Oh the humanity...

Re:Michael! by Allen+Zadr · 2004-08-23 00:37 · Score: 5, Interesting

My take. Nasa has more bandwidth than God. If any domain can take the hit... Nasa's can.

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Re:Michael! by cdrudge · 2004-08-23 00:44 · Score: 5, Funny

However, they are now left with the difficult decision to either pay their monthly bandwidth bill or fix Hubble, but not both.
Re:Michael! by _anomaly_ · 2004-08-23 02:15 · Score: 3, Informative

It's gotta be a typo... the page of hi-res images lists a 4mb tiff image that is described as "full-res".
If there were a 40mb tiff would that be a "10x full-res" image?

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"I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
Re:Michael! by Stephen+Samuel · 2004-08-23 07:35 · Score: 5, Interesting

These images (or, at least, a version of them) was put up in Feb of 2002. They had a daytime image, and a nighttime image. I took a couple of hours with GIMP for me to create a a composite of the two..
CAUTION: the following link is a 2MB JPEG that expands to an 8Kx4K image .. that would be about 100megabytes as an uncompressed TIFF (it's here). With only 380MB of RAM on my box, this chokes Mozilla, but loads OK if I save it and open it with gqview..
I have a second image of North America only that's a bit more manageable in size (1024x768),

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hum by borgdows · 2004-08-23 00:25 · Score: 5, Insightful

interestingly, we clearly see northkorea (black) surrounded by light (southkorea and china)

Re:hum by fishing · 2004-08-23 00:58 · Score: 5, Interesting

There's a really good reason for this.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, most of the buddy-buddy relationships with other communist countries were scratched and it turned into "every man for themselves".

North Korea used to have a constant supply of oil and coal and other energy needs from Russia, but this was abruptly terminated when Russia started saying "Er, you gotta pay full price now". The North Koreans had no cash to pay with, and thus began the rapid spiralling decline of all their energy production, transport, manufacturing and most importantly, food production. Food production in particular was a double-edged sword, needing not only oil to harvest and transport food, but also petroleum products and energy to produce fertiliser for use in North Korea's poor soil. With most of the country starving, and most machinery lying idle and rusting, things have been getting exponentially worse. They now have peasants tilling fields by hand, emaciated, underfed, with no chance of anything changing, unless they join the army, where they are emaciated, underfed and using rifles.

With little or nothing to trade with, North Korea has resorted to high-profit, (relatively) low-staffing-requirements industries like missiles, nuclear power and weapons, and (possibly) any other sorts of chemical or bio weapons to fund their dismal little empire.

Thus we now have them in a position where they have nothing to lose, and a little bitter and twisted.

To the US's credit, there were attempts to try and help Pyongyang out of this dead-end situation, by offering assistance in building reactors that were more efficient and would not produce weapons-grade materials. Unfortunatley, the Clinton administration never came good with their promises, and then the Bush administration came into power and... well, you know the rest. With the likes of John "Deputy Dawg" Bolton doing negotiations with them it's a small miracle South Korea or Japan aren't small burning heaps by now. That's if NK actually do have any nukes. Who knows... the entire government is crazy and senile, so it's hard to guess what they are doing or thinking.
Re:hum by NickFitz · 2004-08-23 01:19 · Score: 4, Funny

Who knows... the entire government is crazy and senile, so it's hard to guess what they are doing or thinking.

That's no way to talk about President Bush... oh, hang on...

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Re:hum by zerblat · 2004-08-23 01:51 · Score: 4, Insightful

Western China could be mistaken for ocean.
That's because noone lives there. It's interesting to compare the night-sky map with a map showing population density.

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Re:hum by mobiGeek · 2004-08-23 02:21 · Score: 4, Funny

That's no way to talk about President Bush
...the longer you keep calling him "President", the longer he'll keep believing it. ;-)

Reminds me of something that happened to my father a few years back. He was a high school principal and was giving a tour of the school to some board trustees on a Monday morning. They came around the back of the school where someone had sparypainted "Mr. Smith is gay" on the wall over the weekend.
Without missing a beat, my father turned to the delegation and said "See that? They do indeed have respect for me...why else would they paint Mr. Smith??"

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Re:hum by darth_zeth · 2004-08-23 03:25 · Score: 4, Insightful

You make it sound like North Korea was just dealt a bum hand, and its really not the fault of anyone in North Korea that they are in the shit heap they are in.

which I find amusing, seeing as RIGHT across the DMZ is the flourishing country of South Korea.

Whether or not you meant to imply this, I think its worth emphasizing that it is the actions of the North Korea government that has damned the nation. Perhaps the influence of China and the Soviets wasn't quite NK's fault, the past dozen year or so resulted in the marked improvement of many post-Soviet satellite states. The North Koreans government ill management of agricultural resources, ill management of foreign relations, and their massive expenditure of money on their idle million man army, consuming one third of their GDP in supporting their army and developing weapons.

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"Nobody writes jokes in base 13." - Douglas Adams
Re:hum by fishing · 2004-08-23 08:12 · Score: 3, Insightful

Oh, no, I don't think it's JUST that NK got a bum hand... they could've planned MUCH better. The country is a disaster area and it could've been averted. For an interesting analysis of how North Korea and Cuba both responded to almost identical situations (oil being cut off), and how each went to the complete other end of the spectrum, check out: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/111703_k orea_cuba_1.html

And, I do think I really was implying that the USA was really trying to help a desperate nation avoid having to resort to selling WMDs, missiles and the like by making genuine offers of assistance. Don't worry, we're not all out here with the knives out for you yankees... I have a lot of respect for some of the genuine people in your country. The USA has been a symbol of truth and justice for longer than I've been around, that's for sure.

But hell, you gotta admit, NK was one of the poorest of all the commie countries, and they were all regarded as pariahs during the cold war... you think everything was frikkin' roses for them, and it's all their own fault? That's not the whole story, I think. Sure their leaders were dickheads, but so are a lot of politicians everywhere.

Man, the North Koreans went to communism because the alternatives at the time were worse in their eyes. Maybe it was was wrong, but fuck it, they're people. All most of 'em wanna do is bring up their kids and have food on the table.

I guess, all I'm really saying is this: if you chase a starving mongrel dog into a corner you can either give it a meal and try and tame it, or you can have it try to take your jugular out.

And, I guess I'm also saying: John Bolton is a complete fucking dipshit, and no help whatsoever.

You just seeing this? by Backdraft32 · 2004-08-23 00:26 · Score: 4, Insightful

I have had this as my desktop for over a year now... I suppose its nice to show it to more people, but its hardly newsworthy...

Alien landing sight... by weave · 2004-08-23 00:26 · Score: 5, Funny

OK, if you were an alien, where would you land? Somehow anywhere in the United States seems to be not a very bright idea. Stupid Roswell aliens...

Re:Alien landing sight... by julesh · 2004-08-23 02:06 · Score: 3, Insightful

OK, if you were an alien, where would you land? Somehow anywhere in the United States seems to be not a very bright idea. Stupid Roswell aliens...

An interesting question. Depends on the goals of the mission, I suspect.

A couple of profiles thrown off the top of my head:

- Make contact with global leaders

Assuming the aliens make judgments in the same way we do, I would go for either Eastern USA, Western Europe or Japan. If an assumption is made of global government, Eastern USA looks better developed so I would aim for there. If the working assumption is continental governments, there seems to be a greater degree of centralisation in Western Europe, so I'd head for either Madrid or Paris, figuring that one of those two is likely to be the European administration centre. Probably Paris, due to its more central location.

- Study the behaviour of the technology possessing inhabitants of this world

I'd head for an area on the edge of a bright patch, but far enough away that I'm likely to be able to go unnoticed. West China, East Russia, and North Africa all look quite appealing, with little to distinguish between them. I'd probably visit all three, on the basis that there might be regional variation in behaviour.

Heeeyyyy! by grunt107 · 2004-08-23 00:27 · Score: 3, Funny

Why is half of Texas so dim?

Re:Heeeyyyy! by macthulhu · 2004-08-23 00:31 · Score: 3, Funny

Hey! It's not "dim"... It's either "Handicapable", or "Differently Abled"... or were you talking about the picture?

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Someday a real rain is gonna come...
Re: Heeeyyyy! by Black+Parrot · 2004-08-23 00:38 · Score: 4, Interesting
> Why is half of Texas so dim?

Presumably you're setting up for a joke about which half is missing its idiot...

But seriously, I noticed the same think. The whole USA seems to be divided by a line that runs straight north from the most southerly point of Texas. Is that for real, or just an artifact of the image-making process?

Other interesting stuff:
- Check out the lattice checking European Russia to the far east.
- Check out the lighting along the lower (northerly) Nile.
- On the small map, look how clearly the coastlines of Scandanavia are delineated. On the larger map, look at the coastlines of Italy, southern France, and Spain.
- On the larger map, notice the rectangular lattice on the USAian plains and around Rio and Buenos Aires. (Possibly an artifact, but it doesn't show up in most other places with similar amounts of light.)
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Re: Heeeyyyy! by daniil · 2004-08-23 00:51 · Score: 4, Informative

These lights represent larger settlements, as smaller ones (like villages) don't simply generate enough light to be seen on this picture. Larger settlements are always situated by major transportation routes -- like railways, highways or waterways (see the coastlines practically anywhere in the world).
Now, taking this into consideration, the photo will yield more information. You can, for instance, quite clearly trace the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway (the narrow strip of lights running through most of Russia). In the US, the Western part was settled (by the Europeans, that is) much later than the Eastern part; as a consequence, the transportation infrastructure is less developed and it really shows (there are probably also differences in the landscape -- a city is more likely to be built in the plains that in the Great Rocky Mountains).

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Re: Heeeyyyy! by Skinny+Rav · 2004-08-23 01:04 · Score: 3, Interesting

And it seems that you can still see the ancient silk trade route through Middle Asia leading from Middle East to China

Raf
Re: Heeeyyyy! by po_boy · 2004-08-23 01:18 · Score: 4, Funny

But seriously, I noticed the same think. The whole USA seems to be divided by a line that runs straight north from the most southerly point of Texas. Is that for real, or just an artifact of the image-making process?

Please stop telling people about the parts of the US west of the Mississippi River. The reason we're here is because they're not.

Thanks.

That's not very new stuff... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-08-23 00:27 · Score: 3, Funny

if you have been a fan of Xearth and the better versions, it is sorta..errr.. 3 years late as far as a scoop.

Oh by the way, did you try www.google.com yet?
It's a pretty new site that just opened.

Electricity Bill by Space_Soldier · 2004-08-23 00:28 · Score: 3, Funny

It tells you who is paying their electricity bill and who is not. Africa is awfully dark.

What a waste! by keoghp · 2004-08-23 00:28 · Score: 5, Insightful

All that light headed skywards when it was intended for the ground. Apart from the waste of valuable resources good old Mr Alien can see us!

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Re:What a waste! by spectrokid · 2004-08-23 00:35 · Score: 5, Interesting

I am Belgian (VERY bright on the map). In Belgium, all motorways are lit by lampposts all of the time (don't ask why). It does mean it has become completely impossible to see more then 2-3 stars at night. Light-pollution has become an issue and the astronomers are organising a "dark" night once a year, asking municipalities and private people to turn off the flood-lights. There are now standards on how much light a lamppost is allowed to shine upwards.

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Re:What a waste! by optimus2861 · 2004-08-23 01:38 · Score: 5, Insightful

When I visited the UK a couple of years ago, what struck me was the unnatural glow that's ever-present around the horizon at night from the incredible amount of light being poured into the night sky; it looks as if it's perpetually an hour after sunset. Very few stars ever come out. Most of that light was probably from London, even though I was over an hour's drive north of the city. Being raised in rural Canada, I could always just go out into the front yard, look up, and get an awesome view of the night sky, including the Milky Way on a clear, moonless night. I feel some pity for kids being raised in those environments where they'll never be able to see it.

River Nile and east-russian (rail)road by MavEtJu · 2004-08-23 00:29 · Score: 3, Interesting

The most beautiful part of it is still the bright line going through Egypt where the Nile river is.

The lines going through eastern Russia (most likely not Russia anymore, but I'm not up to date with the current *stans there), are they based on roads or railroads?

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Re:River Nile and east-russian (rail)road by laurensv · 2004-08-23 00:35 · Score: 5, Informative

The lines going through eastern Russia (most likely not Russia anymore, but I'm not up to date with the current *stans there), are they based on roads or railroads?
Yes, the line matches for a big part with the trans siberian railway. You can also notices how Moskou is the centre of a star, Paris has a bit of the same effect in France (both very centralised governments).
Re:River Nile and east-russian (rail)road by markov_chain · 2004-08-23 00:35 · Score: 3, Informative

As far as Russia goes, that's probably the Trans-Siberia Railway. Amazing how development follows transportation routes, right? Reminds me of playing Railroad Tycoon or SimCity :)

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2002? by Xetrov · 2004-08-23 00:29 · Score: 5, Insightful

Anyone else notice the 2002 date on the image?

Re:2002? by Tmack · 2004-08-23 01:52 · Score: 4, Informative

I wouldnt doubt it, the one Ive had as a desktop background for a while now is dated Nov27, 2000. The type of image is nothing new, but it could be using newer images than the one I have.... Another interesting image is the one of a sunset over europe.
Tm

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new? by Speare · 2004-08-23 00:30 · Score: 3, Informative

These have been going around for a long time, and people have worked with different resolutions and different intensity gains. The most common images composite the lights onto images showing a gamut of ocean-depths because the shades of blue are informative, if not realistic. Any newer, higher-resolution version is only mildly interesting.

By the way, the XPlanet project (xplanet.sf.net) can use images like this for the night-side rendering of a near-realtime Earth on your desktop.

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Re:again? by donnyspi · 2004-08-23 00:30 · Score: 5, Interesting

It would be neat to use some kind of tool to compare the two pics and see how much brighter/dimmer we are in 2004 than 2000.

cool by chegosaurus · 2004-08-23 00:30 · Score: 5, Funny

I can see my case mod from here!

Picture of the.. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-08-23 00:30 · Score: 3, Informative

August 11 2002. That's what it says, when you click the image for the larger image (bottom left corner).

Also of interest by Bob+The+Lizard · 2004-08-23 00:33 · Score: 5, Informative

Check out
http://www.dfd.dlr.de
The German Remote Sensing Data Center. DFD

These guys process sat data etc. Some cool pics here.

English link at top.
Go to sat data on left, then gallery.

G/

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Repeat, But Lighter by Flamesplash · 2004-08-23 00:35 · Score: 4, Informative

Looks like they decided to repeat this imagine on APOD, it was last up Nov 2000. They decided to lighten the image a little, I guess the last one was too dark.

I was able to buy a poster size version from my campus poster sale last year, I'm a big fan.

--
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson

Scotland is pretty cool by Gordonjcp · 2004-08-23 00:35 · Score: 4, Interesting

You can see a lot of light around the "M8 corridor", about half-way up running east-west, and then light where there are large ports up the east coast and along the south side of the Moray Firth. The black bit in the middle is all mountains and moorland. It looks very, very isolated like that...

north/south korea by havaloc · 2004-08-23 00:39 · Score: 5, Interesting

What's telling is North and South Korea. North is almost 100% dark. See this link for a close up.

Also kind of cool... by turnstyle · 2004-08-23 00:41 · Score: 4, Interesting

Check out the Nile and the coastline of Europe.

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Re:Also kind of cool... by Reducer2001 · 2004-08-23 01:06 · Score: 3, Funny

What about those lights in Northern Alaska? Has the drilling already begun?

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Re:Also kind of cool... by FatRatBastard · 2004-08-23 01:28 · Score: 3, Interesting

Its called the North Slope, and there's been drilling/pumping there for years.

Re:Had it on my desktop,... by gbjbaanb · 2004-08-23 00:42 · Score: 4, Informative

you want xearth (or wearth). It makes a desktop wallpaper image that is updated every x seconds. And you can have the light/dark barrier displayed, and it moves, and the earth even wobbles up and down depending on the season.

Unfortunately you can't see the lights coming on and off... unless you download the source and get coding :)

Oh no... by sarvik · 2004-08-23 00:45 · Score: 4, Funny

...it appears that the Earth is flat!

Africa by payndz · 2004-08-23 00:49 · Score: 3, Insightful

No wonder it used to be called 'The Dark Continent'!

It's quite sobering, actually. You look at the US and Japan and Western Europe blazing away, and then realise there are people elsewhere who have literally *nothing*, not even something as 'simple' as electric light.

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You must think in Russian.

Re:Africa by frovingslosh · 2004-08-23 00:53 · Score: 5, Insightful

gee, that's kind of negative. I looked at it as there are still some places without light polution.

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Amatuer Astronomers (and Pros) Cringe by Average_Joe_Sixpack · 2004-08-23 01:03 · Score: 5, Insightful

Light pollution is overlooked by most of the populace, but to us amatuer astronomers it is a royal pain in the ass. I now have to travel 3 hours into the rural sticks to get a glimpse of the Milky Way (I'd have to get on a plane and travel to Africa to enjoy it in its full glory). I'd be willing to bet that half the US population has never even seen the galactic clouds of the Milky Way ... which is a shame because it borders on a religous experience.

Not to sound like Smokey the Bear but please Please do your part in help preventing light pollution and save a little extra in your monthly energy costs in the process. Use motion sensors for your outside security lights and timers for walkway lighting. Blinds and curtains to prevent inside lighting from leaking out into the neighborhood.

You'd be suprised how many backyard astronomers there are!!

More info on the problem:
International Dark Sky Association

McDonald Observatory by grouse · 2004-08-23 01:07 · Score: 4, Informative

Well, there are two reasons. One is that the McDonald Observatory, and the largest telescope in the continental U.S. is out there, and their Light Pollution Program has successfully reduced stray light for hundreds of miles.

The other reason is that there just ain't that much stuff out in West Texas. ;-)

Oh Crap ... by ReidMaynard · 2004-08-23 01:08 · Score: 5, Funny

It looks like .. yes .. I left the back porch light on, again.

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Something old is now new. by Stumbles · 2004-08-23 01:17 · Score: 3, Interesting

This DMSP image produced by the Block V spacecraft is nothing new and has been around for a very long time. As far back as 1982 we used this image to create a picture we gave our students who reached honor grad status.

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Re:Drive from London to Singapore? by ArsSineArtificio · 2004-08-23 01:30 · Score: 3, Informative

Possibly the route of the Orient Express? I'd guess that populated areas grew up alongside the railway.

The "Orient Express" was a luxury train which ran from Paris to Istanbul. What you've identified is the great Trans-Siberian Railway, leading from western Russia all the way to Vladivostok. It was indeed the corridor for Russian settlement in Siberia.

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That's Monster Island, not Tsushima. by ArsSineArtificio · 2004-08-23 01:33 · Score: 3, Funny

Take a look at Tsushima (an island off the coast of northern Kyushu, Japan, just south of South Korea). It is almost complete lit up. But Tsushima is mainly mountains, and fairly sparsely populated... There is nothing there that would generate the amount of light that the image suggests....

Any idea why this might be?

That isn't actually Tsushima, it's Monster Island. The UN, in cooperation with the Russian government and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, keeps a constant surveillance vigil on the indigenous monsters such as Godzilla, Mothra, and Gamera. (After 1954, nobody's taking any chances). This necessitates a lot of bright light, which is what you're seeing in the pictures.

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All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.

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