Christmas Lights from Spaaaaaace!

[W5BRM]

http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/20189/20141217/nasa-spots-christmas-holiday-lights-way-space-video.htm


Each year, holiday lights go up throughout the United States and the nights become just a bit brighter for it. But you don't just see these lights here on Earth; you can also see them from space. Now, NASA has released an image that the NOAA/NASA satellite snapped from orbit.

Around many U.S. cities, lights shine 20 to 50 percent brighter during Christmas and New Year's when compared to the rest of the year. A similar phenomenon can be seen around Middle Eastern cities during Ramadan.

Now we oughta get them all synchronized and type out a 73 to the astronauts! or the aliens...

[n2ize]

Interesting. Thanks for posting this. I wonder if there is much energy savings now that a lot of decorators have switched over to LED's ? When I was a kid everyone used the large and medium sized color screw in type incandescent sets. Some were wired in parallel others in series and if one lamp went out they all went out. The thing was that although those sets used more energy (appx 7 watts per bulb) the decorative displays people set up were much more austere and simple than the kind of decorating I see today. These days instead of a few strings of incandescent lamps people make elaborate displays using many, many sets of hundreds upon hundreds of miniature incandescents or LED's. Not to mention lighted inflatable figures, LED projectors that project moving displays (falling snow, flying angels, etc..) and even floodlights.