Artificial light from Earth
© NAS
It’s World Population Day. Evidence of human habitation
Our photo today has been digitally altered by NASA’s Earth Observatory team to remove natural light. Doing so reveals just how much artificial light human settlements generate. We share this image to draw attention to the observance of World Population Day today. The event was inspired by the Day of Five Billion on July 11, 1987, when the United Nations estimates our global population reached that milestone. Each year, World Population Day encourages us to think about how our growing numbers might affect our future, and the future of the planet we live on.
Young stars forming in the Tarantula Nebula, James Webb Space Telescope
Earth seen from the International Space Station
Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula
Andromeda galaxy
The Large Magellanic Cloud, photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope
Pluto's crescent imaged by NASA's New Horizons interplanetary space probe
Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635)
Composite image of Earth at night from space
