Sunita Williams, an astronaut, took photos of the Earth at night from the International Space Station. The photos show the patterns of lights across continents as night falls in different regions. Major cities like Paris, Barcelona, London, and Madrid are visible in Europe. The photos also capture the lights of cities in Brazil like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and in the United States like Boston, New York, and Washington D.C. The document urges sharing the photos widely so future generations can appreciate the spectacular views of Earth at night from space.

1. BLUE BEAUTY Photos by Astronaut Sunita Williams

2. SANDSTORM LEAVING NORTH AFRICA TOWARDS THE ATLANTIC – CANARY ISLAND.

3. GIBRALTAR STRAITS

4. NIGHT ARRIVES BETWEEN EUROPE & AFRICA

5. SWISS ALPS

6. ICELAND

7. BLACK SEA

8. RED SEA

9. OUR PLANET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE AT NIGHT

15. SPECTACULAR! Satellite photo of Europe and Africa at night on a cloudless day. Lights are already on in Paris, Barcelona but not in London, Lisbon or Madrid, where there is still daylight. You can see the Azores in the middle of the ocean. A little below Madeira and further Canary Islands and Cape Verde. You can observe the continent platforms from the British Isles to Canada and Iceland in the middle.

16. France Iceland Italy Continental Platform England ÁFRICA Already night time here. Spain Atlantic Ocean Cabo Verde Island Canary Islands Islas de la Madera y Azores

17. NIGHTFALL IN BRAZIL Grande São Paulo Rio de Janeiro Belo Horizonte Salvador Atlantic Ocean Brazilian Continental Platform.

18. Grande São Paulo Rio de Janeiro Salvador Recife Fortaleza Brasília Goiânia Uberlândia Belo Horizonte Florianópolis

19. NIGHTFALL IN USA

20. The biggest concentration of lights (from top to bottom) are the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington. Miami Houston Dallas Chicago Still daylight in California. Puerto Rico

21. THE END TRANSLATION TO ENGLISH AND EDITED MSW 2007 Isn’t this magic ? So our children can enjoy these spectacular views for a long time, please forward this message to as many people as possible.