NASA published the ‘Black Marble’ night images of our wonderful world last week, and we were really amazed seeing the glow of our precious planet at night time. Well, it looks like we will be seeing those spectacular images once again, but this time, on Google Maps. That’s because Google has partnered with NASA and NOAA to bring Black Marble’ night images into Google Maps.
Google made the announcement via Google+, saying, “Heard about the new ‘Black Marble’ magery from NASA/NOAA? Now you can explore this imagery in Google Maps – thanks NASA/NOAA for this data and amazing imagery!” The Earth at Night 2012 map can be viewed here.
The night images – a first of its kind – were taken from a satellite. NASA’s VIIRS sensor proved to be the hero here, as it is reportedly sensitive enough to detect the evening glow of Earth from afar. The data was acquired in two consecutive periods – 9 days in April 2012 and 13 days in October 2012. It took 312 orbits to get a clear shot of every parcel of Earth’s land surface and islands, Google said. Check it out here.
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