Mountain View, California — It may not seem to be the most worthy of Google Maps features, but using NASA and NOAA’s striking images of the Earth after dark imagery sure is pretty. Google announced today in a Google+ post that there is a new layer in Google Maps, which the web giant is now letting users explore Earth’s far-reaching lands filled with flickering lights using imagery from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s “Black Marble.”
Less than a week ago, NASA released “Black Marble,” a collection of high-resolution images of the Earth at night, illuminated by the electric lights of cities worldwide. The data is referred to as Black Marble imagery because of its unique view of the planet’s city lights at night.
Amazingly, lhe lush imagery released by NASA last week was collected by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite during 312 orbits of Earth over 22 days in April and October 2012, and then composited and mapped over NASA’s high-resolution Blue Marble Next Generation imagery.
Already, thanks to a partnership between Google and government agencies, people can explore the imagery in Google Maps. Now armed with these, the Web giant announced the launch of its own Earth at Night today, which is a global view and animation of the images taken from NASA and NOAA’s jointly operated Suomi NPP satellite. These series of images show what the Earth looks like from space once the sun sets.
“It took 312 orbits to get a clear shot of every parcel of Earth’s land surface and islands,” Google wrote in its description of Earth at Night. “This new data was then mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet.”
These marvelous 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 layer really is gorgeous, you can see it in action here.
Besides, the original Blue Marble is one of the most famous photographs ever taken of Earth. It was captured by the Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972. Earlier this year, NASA released Blue Marble 2012, an image of the western hemisphere of earth that was meant to be an update of the original. It was also captured by the Suomi NPP satellite.
Here is a video NASA released:
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