This is what the Earth looks like at night. Can you find your favorite country
or city? Surprisingly, city lights make this task quite possible. Human-made
lights highlight particularly developed or populated areas of the Earth's surface,
including the seaboards of Europe, the eastern United States, and Japan. Many
large cities are located near rivers or oceans so that they can exchange goods
cheaply by boat. Particularly dark areas include the central parts of South
America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The above image is actually a composite
of hundreds of pictures made by the orbiting DMSP satellites.

Take a look at this awesome piece of photography! The lights clearly indicate
populated areas.

It is interesting to note that Canada's population is almost exclusively along
the U.S. border. In Europe there is a high population concentration along the
Mediterranean Coast. It's easy to spot London, Paris, Stockholm and Vienna.
Note the Nile River and the rest of Africa - after the Nile, the lights don't
come on again until Johannesburg. Look at the Australian Outback and the
Trans-Siberian Rail Route. Look at the density of Japan and note the difference
between North - South Korea and betweem East and West coast of U.S.A.

Just sit back and look at this picture - it's beautiful!