Cities at Night, an Orbital Tour Around the World

I was indulging my fascination with Astronomy this afternoon when I stumbled upon this cool little video. The folks of Expedition 6 on the International Space Station (ISS) were taking digital pictures of the Earth at night, however, their pictures came out blurry because of the movement between the Earth and the space station. Jury rigging a system called a "Barn Door Tracker" they were able to take their pictures as the tracker moved along with the Earth canceling the blurring effect and providing more detail.

The pictures they took are spectacular to look at as they easily resemble glowing patches of moss, lichen, webs, or even germs. Some look like ordered boxes of lights, databases, or grids. You might be able to recognize the city by the way the lights are positioned and how they conform to the geography of the region or place it is in. Almost every major city from the around the World had its picture taken from Hong Kong, Montreal, and Tokyo and so on. One interesting detail you can compare is between the wealth of nations and their respective capitals and cities.

Further information about this project and an article head over here: Cities at Night - The View from Space.

YouTube - [Link]