Satellite Images of India on Diwali Night - NASA

Source: NASA:

NASA today released black and white satellite images of India this Diwali night, cautioning people against the fake image in circulation in social media circles.

"On November 12, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of southern Asia," NASA said releasing a picture of India on this Diwali night.

"The image is based on data collected by the VIIRS 'day- night band', which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared. The image has been brightened to make the city lights easier to distinguish," it said.

NASA said most of the bright areas in the imagery released by it are cities and towns in India, the country with the world's largest Hindu population.

"India is home to more than 1.2 billion people and has 30 cities with populations over 1 million. (For comparison, China has 62 cities with more than 1 million residents and the United States has 9)," it said. Cities in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan are also visible near the edges of the image.

"In that image, white areas show city lights that were visible prior to 1992, while blue, green, and red shades indicate city lights that became visible in 1992, 1998, and 2003 respectively," it said.

"In reality, any extra light produced during Diwali is so subtle that it is likely imperceptible when observed from space," NASA said.


This image, released by NASA Earth Observatory on December 5, 2012 that shows India during Diwali celebrations on the night of November 12, 2012.

This image, according to NASA, is the colorful picture which has been making the rounds online as map of India during Diwali celebrations and is actually an overlay of shots highlighting India's burgeoning population over several years.


NASA | Earth at Night:



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Comments :

2 comments to “Satellite Images of India on Diwali Night - NASA”

Tamil Nadu has lights!!! OMG. Maybe this was taken when the power supply was on. Can you please show us an picture when there is a power failure which is easy to obtain

Shayari said...
on 

LOL.
Sure Shayari ... I've put in the request to NASA. They assured will get the satellite image in the next pass over Tamil Nadu.

;)

the FundooGeek! said...
on 

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