Amazing Pictures from NASA: The Earth As Seen At Night

Ever wondered what the earth looks like from outer space? Well the space agency has posted beautiful cloud-free photos and videos of the Earth illuminated by man-made light sources at night. To get these amazing pictures, NASA used new sensors placed onboard the Suomi satellite in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, composite images were assembled of the Earth over short periods in April and October using the new "day-night band" filter.

NASA said that the technique is more sensitive to light originating from our planet than previous sensors due to the way it analyses images. The filter scans photos multiple times in order to detect the amount of light in individual pixels, boosting and dimming different parts of the image as necessary.