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[NASA] Picturing Earth in a New Light

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  3. Picturing Earth in a New Light
 
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Some parts of the planet are shown to brighten (gold) and some dim (purple) in an analysis of nearly a decade of nighttime lights data from NASA’s ****** Marble product.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

Maps can show more than just where things are—they can also show how things change. New maps of artificial light reveal a planet that has been reshaping its nights through patterns of brightening and dimming.

The maps are based on a recent analysis of NASA’s

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data, which found that instead of a gradual increase in artificial light at night over the course of nearly a decade, the patterns are much more nuanced. The analysis portrays a world flickering with industrial booms and busts, construction, and blackouts, as well as more gradual shifts, such as policy-driven retrofits.

NASA’s ****** Marble product uses observations from the

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(Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) sensors on the
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, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 satellites to produce records of nighttime lights at daily, monthly, and yearly time scales. The VIIRS
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 detects nighttime light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, reflected moonlight, and auroras.

The map above shows changes in brightness across most of the inhabited world (between 60 degrees south and 70 degrees north). Yellow and gold areas are where there has been more brightening during the study *******, from 2014 to 2022, and purple areas are where there has been more dimming.  

The visualization below shows the same data for the Eastern Hemisphere. Note that this version includes some artistic touches, such as simulated sunlight and shadows, while the nighttime lights data overlaid on the globe remain grounded in the scientific analysis. The image was featured on the

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, where
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was published in April 2026.

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An analysis of nearly a decade of nighttime lights data (2014-2022) from NASA’s ****** Marble product revealed areas of brightening (gold) and dimming (purple) shown here across the Eastern Hemisphere.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

Overall, the researchers found that global radiance increased by 34 percent during the study *******, but that surge masks large areas of dimming. Such “bidirectional changes” often happen side by side. In the U.S., for example, West Coast cities grew brighter as their populations increased, while much of the East Coast showed dimming, which the team attributed to the increased use of energy-efficient LEDs and broader economic restructuring.

The authors concluded that internationally, nighttime light surged in China and northern India along with urban development, while LEDs and energy conservation measures coincided with reduced light pollution in Paris and throughout France (a 33 percent dimming), the *** (22 percent dimming), and the Netherlands (21 percent dimming). European nights dimmed sharply in 2022 during a regional energy crisis that followed the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Large versions of the maps on this page can be downloaded below. Animations showing annual changes in nighttime lights throughout the study ******* are available from NASA’s

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.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using data from

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). Story by Sally Younger adapted for Earth Observatory by Kathryn Hansen.

Downloads

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Global map: 2014-2022

JPEG (1.90 MB)

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Eastern Hemisphere: 2014-2022

JPEG (3.51 MB)

References & Resources

  • Li, T., et al. (2026)
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    . Nature, 652, 379–386.
  • NASA (2026, April 13)
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    . Accessed May 14, 2026.
  • NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio (2026, April 8)
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    . Accessed May 14, 2026.

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