Originally posted by Undertoad How'd they do that? Since earth isn't at night all at once, did they take a series of pictures at a pre-determined local time and then stitch them together? Are all localites in a given longitudinal slice assumed to have the same local time? Did they correct for diffraction? If the satellite is over the equator, then the northernmost and southernmost regions will appear dimmer if not adjusted. And who threw a blanket over Africa?