NASA unveils old satellite image of Earth shimmering with 'night lights'

NASA took a trip down memory lane on Thursday by sharing an old yet riveting image of Earth illuminating during the night hours. The satellite picture was taken in 2016, and captured how our home planet sparkles where human settlements exist. Sharing it on Instagram, NASA described the night lights as "shining, shimmering, splendid".

According to the caption, the image was created through a compositing technique that carefully picked the most ideal cloud-free nights in each month over every piece of land. “Using this data, we can monitor short-term changes caused by disturbances in power delivery, such as conflict, storms, earthquakes, and brownouts. We can monitor cyclical changes driven by reoccurring human activities such as holiday lighting and seasonal migrations," said former NASA scientist Miguel Román.

"We can also monitor gradual changes driven by urbanisation, out-migration, economic changes, and electrification. The fact that we can track all these different aspects at the heart of what defines a city is simply mind-boggling," Román added. Uploaded on Thursday, the crystal-clear satellite image has garnered over 1,00,000 likes and more than 2,700 comments.

Is India shining the brightest, ask netizens

Reacting to it, one user wrote: "I wonder if any extraterrestrial beings have seen those lights!" But the image quickly became a competition of which country illuminated the brightest. 
Upon closer observation, some users were able to point out how India glowed the most on the globe, shining in shades of yellow and gold thanks to its booming population and infrastructure. "Haha, India is shining too bright," said one user, as another added, "India looks so bright here." "India is shining," another proud user wrote.

NASA, which has a whopping follower base of 90 million people on Instagram, often shares striking glimpses of space. NASA, which has a whopping follower base of 90 million people on Instagram, often shares striking glimpses of space. Recently, it shared an image that captured volcanic activity on planet Venus for the first time in history. The picture was taken by Magellan mission over three decades ago. "The images revealed a volcanic vent changing shape and increasing significantly in size in less than a year.," the space agency said.