Holiday Lights Make Cities Visibly Brighter from Space

With the extra lights shining in cities across the world at this time of year, we are outputting a significant number of photons into Space.  So many that Satellites in orbit have been able to see the difference.  In the maps below, the areas in green are locations where the brightness has increased by as much as 50%. Being able to see the difference from Space is amazing.  The maps also exist for Caribbean nations, where much of the population celebrates Christmas. Now I’m not avoiding any one particular holiday in my use of the phrase ‘holiday lights,’ because it turns...