Now this is actually a really cool idea here–what you’re seeing is a picture of the Eastern Hemisphere at night.  It encompasses Europe, Africa, India, and a good chunk of the Asian subcontinent.

Those are lights you’re seeing, and the more lights you see, the more urbanized the area is. And you can see how developed some areas are, while some have precious little urbanization.

It can be said that the richer a country is, the more brightly lit.  Of course, this isn’t a hundred percent true, as financial growth as measured by GDP isn’t always exactly proportional to light levels as seen from space.  For instance, Belarus’ GDP growth was about 1.6 percent, but the lights say it should’ve been less than half that.

It may not be an exact science, but it’s still a really cool picture from space.

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1. Pictures From Space–The California Wildfire
2. Pictures From Space: Jupiter Over The Mediterranean
3. Pictures From Space: Hurricane Jimena
4. Pictures From Space–Oil Slick in the Timor Sea
5. BenQ’s DLP Projectors Don’t Need Space to Project Your Pictures