Fishing Boats and City Lights

NASA/Zena Cardman

Fishing boats illuminate the Arabian Sea along India’s west coast with green lights designed to attract squid, shrimp, sardines, and mackerel in this nighttime photograph from the International Space Station, orbiting 259 miles above Earth on Dec. 25, 2025.

Studying nighttime light offers a unique perspective for investigations into human behaviors, such as tracking the expansion of urban areas or assessing power outages caused by natural disasters such as hurricanes...