Sunset from Space

Jan 31, 2003 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm

Pilar (the boss lady) sent me this picture:

Wow!

I'm not sure if it's a Photoshop job or not but here's the text that came with the picture:

"I thought this was a cool picture.

This photo was taken via satellite, on a cloudless day. Note how the lights
are already on in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona, and how it's still daylight
in London, Lisbon, and Madrid. The sun is still shining on the Straight of
Gibraltar, and the Mediterranean Sea is already in darkness.

In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you can see the Azores Islands; below
them to the right are the Madeira Islands; a bit below are the Canary
Islands; and further south, close to the farthest western point of Africa,
the Cape Verde Islands.

The Sahara is huge and can be seen clearly both during daytime and
nighttime. To the left, on top, is Greenland, totally frozen."

UPDATE: Here's how it was done... (March 31, 2003)

Comments

Jan 31, 2003, 10:01:13 Jeice Guyver wrote:

I thought the transition zone between day and night would be larger.

I guess twilight is an effect mostly/only visible from the ground.

Wicked pic though. Do you know where she got it? I've beed searching high and low for a decent satellite picture of Vancouver and the FV.

Jan 31, 2003, 12:30:39 Dré wrote:

Definitely a Photoshop work-up. I'm pretty sure the transition 'tween day and night is gradual as the earth rotates. One thought is that it was at a solar eclipse, where the transition is immediate, however I think it only covers a small area i.e. the best place to view the eclipse is in Athens. Also if it were an eclipse, why would everyone run into their houses and turn on the lights, they would be outside awestruck, or hiding under a rock thinking the world is coming to an end. Hence my conclusion that is it digitally re-mastered.

Jan 31, 2003, 13:23:09 Jeice Guyver wrote:

Thought it seemed fake. But still kinda cool.

Still nedd to find some real ones though.

Jan 31, 2003, 13:24:59 Jeice Guyver wrote:

Two comments with spelting errors in a row. I think I should hide under a rock.

Jan 31, 2003, 17:58:30 schlemeil wrote:

I guess this is how God sees it!

Feb 02, 2003, 21:19:09 Osama wrote:

You mean Allah don't you?

Feb 03, 2003, 03:06:08 Martin wrote:

Certainly a fake. Notice - no clouds anywhere in Western Europe and the North Atlantic (how common is that?). "Relief" in the oceans.

Feb 09, 2003, 17:59:46 lmc wrote:

I can believe the "relief" in the ocean. If you stand on a cliff and view the sea, you would see different shades of blue depending on the bottom composition (sand, seaweed, rock) and depth.

The absence of clouds, on the other hand, should be very rare indeed.

Feb 12, 2003, 09:15:38 Jerry wrote:

It is made up from dozens of images taken on different days, and then "stitched" together to make the image. The ocean floor detail is from "bathymetry" data, also worked into the image. The nighttime
lights are perhaps from a different kind of satellite than the daytime side. This image took a lot of work to make, using remote sensing techniques. It is a professional image, not a Photoshop work-up. Similar to products from Worldsat International. http://.../

Feb 13, 2003, 07:35:52 Jerry wrote:

On further checking, the entire image is made of daytime images. The night side is just dimmed to simulate night, and the lights of cities are added from other data (such as http://.../ )

Mar 18, 2003, 19:17:42 Michael wrote:

...I understand, too, that NASA photographs of the same area at night time show many more lights than actually depicted here, especially in Europe.

Michael