Our beautiful planet .... at night

From TheTelegraphUK:
Almost 40 years  to the day after the Apollo 17 crew snapped the famed "blue marble" image of Earth floating in space on Dec. 7, 1972, Nasa has unveiled "black marble" video views of the planet by night.



The cloud-free pictures, taken with a high-resolution visible and infrared imager aboard a Nasa and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite, capture the night lights of Earth in unprecedented detail.
The sensor can capture the equivalent of three lowlight images simultaneously, giving researchers the opportunity to study Earth's atmosphere, land and oceans at night.