If you're someone who loves photographing the night sky from your back garden or local dark-sky site in the USA, you might wonder how it would be possible to capture 4 major cities and the ringed planet Saturn in one shot.
In fact, you'd probably be altogether avoiding the light pollution of northeastern metropolises like NYC, Washington, Philadelphia and Boston.
But an astronaut on the International Space Station has captured an amazing image showing the lights of northeastern USA, the curvature of Earth and its atmospheric layers.
And the planet Saturn as a tiny icing on the cake.
See NASA's Earth Observatory image of the huge Indian Luna impact crater
About the image
NASA released this image as part of its Earth Observatory output, and says the image was captured on 17 January 2024 by one of the crew of Expedition 70 on the International Space Station.
The photo was taken while the ISS was orbiting over Newfoundland, Canada, with the view looking towards the northeastern region of the USA and some of the most famous cities in the United States.
Visible are the well-lit cities of New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Boston, along with Long Island, and the human-made infrastructure that connects them.
Just as with a recent image of northern Europe captured from space, perhaps most striking is the contrast between the dark, rural locations and the sprawling cities lit by artificial lights.
Indeed, if you were an astrophotographer or stargazer based in northeastern USA, this image could be a useful tool telling you where to go to avoid light pollution spoiling your view of the night sky.
The darkness of rural landscapes and water bodies, like Nipmuck and Natchaug state forests and Long Island Sound, are among the darkest regions in the image.
Also visible is the curvature of the Earth and the varying hues representing different sections of our planet's atmosphere.
The troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, is red and yellow. The stratosphere, the layer above that, can be seen in light blue.
And, to top it at all off, the planet Saturn can just about be seen at the top of the image, as a reminder of Earth's place within the Solar System.
Saturn isn't particularly attainable in the night sky in the northern hemisphere at the moment, but that's about to change.
As we approach the end of summer the ringed planet will improve, and by 8 September 2024 Saturn will reach opposition, the best time to see it in the night sky.
