Black Marble: Spectacular Images From NASA, NOAA of the Earth at Night

City Lights

This image of the United States at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October.

Nile River Delta

On Oct. 13, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of the Nile River valley and delta.

Wide World

This composite map of the world was assembled from data acquired by the satellite in April and October.

South America

The Suomi NPP satellite acquired this image of part of the Atlantic coast of South America on the night of July 20.

Korea and the Yellow Sea

Where South Korea is gleaming with city lights, North Korea has hardly any lights at all—just a faint glimmer around the capital city Pyongyang.

Persian Gulf

This image was taken Oct. 15 when there was no moonlight, resulting in an extremely high contrast of light and dark. Urbanization is most apparent along the Northeast Coast of Saudi Arabia, in Qatar and in the United Arab Emirates.

Mustang Complex Fire

Numerous hot spots from the Mustang Complex Fire are visible in northern Idaho. A plume of thick, billowing smoke streams west from the brightest fires near the Idaho-Montana border.

Delhi

On Nov. 12, the Suomi satellite captured this nighttime image of city, village and highway lights near Delhi, India.

Superstorm Sandy

The monster Superstorm Sandy makes landfall along the southern New Jersey coast on the evening of Oct. 29.

Blackout

Following Sandy's landfall, large swathes of New York and New Jersey were left without power, as evidenced by this photo taken Nov. 1.