On Wed, 16 Jan 2002 08:52:16 -0500, Jim Phillips
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg
>
>Supposedly (I can't vouch for this text):
>
>"has an absolutely awesome picture of the Earth taken from the Boeing built
>Space Station last November on a perfect night with no obscuring
atmospheric
>conditions 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. Note that Canada's population is almost exclusively along the
>U.S. border. Moving east to Europe, there is a high population
concentration
>along the Mediterranean Coast. It's easy to spot London, Paris, Stockholm
>and Vienna. 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."
>
>However, it is a striking photo.
>

It's neither a photo from the Space Station, nor a mosaic.  It is light
intensity data gathered from several satelites (including military
satelites, LandSat, ISS, MIR, the Space Shuttle, and others) over years of
observations, then each photo is digitally enhanced to a constant baseline
atmospheric condition, based on the known cloud cover, smog, and atmosphere
dust (volcano erruptions, farming, factories, etc) that was present at the
time of each photograph.  Then, the images were digitally combined,
averaged, and melted together into one image.

A side note:  The "gaseous pillars" are light-years in size, and they
contain stars forming in them.  We cannot see any planets outside our solar
system, yet.  Please go to the Archive from the NASA website listed and go
to the November 6, 1995 entry.  This archive has photos and explanations of
each photo from 1995 to the present.  A new photo is added every day.  It
is my home website here at the office.  Excellent stuff!  Go to the link
below and brouse around the 2000+ images listed there.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

Randy Keefer

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