It's a Small World...
 

Check the link below. This is really a sight to behold! The image is a panoramic view of the world from the new space station. It is a night photo with the lights clearly indicating the populated areas. You can scroll East-West and North-South.<BR><BR>Note that Canada's population is almost exclusively along<BR>the U.S. border. Moving east to Europe, there is a high population<BR>concentration along the Mediterranean Coast. It's easy to spot London, Paris, Stockholm and Vienna. <BR><BR>Note the Nile River and the rest of the "Dark Continent." After the Nile, the lights don't come on again until Johannesburg. Look at the Australian Outback and the Trans-Siberian Rail Route. Moving east, the most striking observation is the difference between North and South Korea. Note the density of Japan.<BR><BR>What a piece of photography! It is an absolutely awesome<BR>picture of the Earth taken from the Boeing built Space Station last November on a perfect night with no obscuring atmospheric conditions.<BR><BR>Click here: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg<BR><BR>

Betsy -- That was amazing! Thanks for sharing - and for giving me a new perspective on this world.

Wow! <BR>Beautiful - thank you Betsy. Happy Holidays to all - and a healthy and prospeous New Year! Liiive, live large....

Sorry - meant propeRous... mea culpa to the spelling police

Absolutely fascinating!

Betsy,<BR>Thank you, thank you.<BR><BR>I've bookmarked the Astronomy Picture of the Day--<BR>http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html --and am fascinated by a new image of our wondrous universe each day.

OK...who turned off all the lights up here????

Thank you, Betsy. I've bookmarked it, too.<BR><BR>The Nile looks FASCINATING, doesn't it?! Completely lit up in one straight line. I suppose Africa still is the "dark continent", seeing there are few lights in the "heart of darkness". <BR><BR>Another thing that fascinates me are the little points of light that seem to be hundreds/thousands of miles from other places, especially in colder areas. I really admire those communities. Wow!<BR><BR>I want my kids to see this.

Hi Betsy<BR><BR>Merry Christmas, hope the world is well with you!<BR><BR>Thanks for the link...<BR><BR>One I love, which Dina posted here on Fodors Europe recently is the balloonhat site... <BR><BR>I think it's www.balloonhat.com<BR><BR>Do have a look...<BR><BR>Kavey

Betsy, this is a lovely thing to post before the New Year, and thank you for reviving it (it's been around for a while -- my brother-in-law sent this last year sometime and someone posted it here then). It still is a beautiful, if sobering, sight.<BR><BR>Note the lights at the far north of Alaska -- not "civilization" but oil-fields, if I'm not mistaken. And though some might see the lights as brilliant evidence of the "fruits" of American industry, nowhere is our disproportionate expenditure/consumption of energy more evident. But you can't deny how pretty it all looks, and how much it reminds us of our "connections" to each other.<BR>

Have a look and pray for peace.

This is so incredibly cool. I'm so glad this was topped.

Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.

Wonderful site, makes my weekend! I think of all the people within those lights and wonder "can't we all just get along".

Hey, what a nice surprise to see this at the top again.