Shown below is a famous NASA image that is often called a "satellite photo of earth at night." It isn't really a "photo." Instead it is an image that was compiled using data from a sensor aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite launched in 2011. This sensor allows researchers to observe Earth's atmosphere and surface during nighttime hours. It is a map of the location of lights on Earth's surface. Each white dot on the map represents the light of a city, fire, ship at sea, oil well flare or other light source. The full-earth image is shown below along with detail images of the United States, Europe and Africa, South America, Asia and Australia.

Satellite Photo of the World at Night