SAN FRANCISCO: NASA presented the findings to the American Geophysical Union. The images were taken with a satellite that orbits the Earth from North Pole to south. NASA has released ethereal new video which proved that our Christmas light are getting so big and bright you can see them from space.
The extraordinary vision is part of a joint research project between the US space agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOOA).
Scientists have been analysing the data in an effort to illustrate patterns in holiday lights.
“When we started looking at the data at night over the United States we were expecting to see a lot of stability in the night sky,” NASA’s Miguel Roman said.
“We were really surprised to see this vibrant activity during the holidays. You have a lot of homes in the suburbs with a lot of yard space to put in lights.”
From earth, all those fairy lights and lit up Santa Clauses might look like a giant neon overload, but from above, the lights appear like droplets across the darkened terrain – fanning out like braches from suburb to suburb.
The research also showed a decrease in energy consumption in urban areas during the holidays as city dwellers opt to spend the festive season in the suburbs with family, according to Dr Roman.
Scientists are hoping the new data will provide valuable insights into how energy consumption varies across the year.
