--- title: Christmas New Year's: NASA Satellite Can See Holiday Lights in Cities description: Cities are brighter during the holidays than any other time in the year canonical: https://time.com/3637018/nasa-holiday-lights/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-17T01:57:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:38.261Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA Can See Holiday Lights From Space og:description: Cities are brighter during the holidays than any other time in the year og:url: https://time.com/3637018/nasa-holiday-lights/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2bf76540fb1b75dc/69876f47428a9e256fcc61dc/nasa-christmas-holiday-lights.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: NASA Holiday Lights og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA Can See Holiday Lights From Space twitter:description: Cities are brighter during the holidays than any other time in the year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2bf76540fb1b75dc/69876f47428a9e256fcc61dc/nasa-christmas-holiday-lights.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA Can See Holiday Lights From Space > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=fc386e6b-f5ba-49cd-96c6-c61cc8b32219&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Dec 17, 2014 1:57 AM UTC  City lights shine brighter during the holidays in the U.S. when compared with the rest of the year, as shown using a new analysis of daily data from the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite. Dark green pixels are areas where lights are 50 percent brighter, or more, during December. City lights shine brighter during the holidays in the U.S. when compared with the rest of the year, as shown using a new analysis of daily data from the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite. Dark green pixels are areas where lights are 50 percent brighter, or more, during December. NASA's Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Dec 17, 2014 1:57 AM UTC The holiday lights on your roof are so bright they’re visible from space. NASA [said](http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/satellite-sees-holiday-lights-brighten-cities/#.VJDhA97uWmD) Tuesday that data from a polar-orbiting satellite, in partnership with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, shows how cities’ nighttime lights change during the holiday season. From Black Friday until New Year’s, city lights are about 20 to 50% brighter than other times of the year. “It’s a near ubiquitous signal. Despite being ethnically and religiously diverse, we found that the U.S. experiences a holiday increase that is present across most urban communities,” said Miguel Román, a research physical scientists at NASA Goddard who co-led the research. “These lighting patterns are tracking a national shared tradition.” ### PHOTOS: 20 Breathtaking Images of Earth From Space  Aleppo, Syria, May 26, 2013 – The Citadel of Aleppo – medieval fortified palace DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Belfast, Northern Ireland, Nov. 3, 2013 – “Wish,” a large-scale art work DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Utah, USA, April 22, 2013 – Colorado River DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Cuanza River, Angola, April 28, 2013 – Cambambe Dam DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Doha, Qatar, March 4, 2013 – Artificial island spanning nearly four million sq meters. DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Dunalley, Australia, Jan. 6, 2013 – fires, false color image (red = healthy vegetation) DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Australia, April 22, 2013 – Great Barrier Reef DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Gwadar coast, Pakistan Sept. 29, 2013 – new island created by earthquake in Pakistan DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Croatia, Feb. 16, 2013 – Galešnjak (Island of Love) DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Hong Kong, China May 9, 2013 – giant rubber duck DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, March 22, 2013 – Manam Volcano DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Namib Desert, Namibia, May 13, 2013 – Sossusvlie area DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Naples, Italy, Feb. 19 2013 – Mount Vesuvius DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Niger, Feb. 13, 2013 – Arlit Uranium Mine DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Schooner Cays, Bahamas, May 26, 2013 DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Sochi, Russia, March 17, 2013 – Site of 2014 winter Olympics DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Near the city of Sur, Oman, Feb. 13, 2013 – massive “green tide” DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Valencia, Spain, July 19, 2013 – Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia and Gulliver Park with an enormous fiberglass model of Lemuel Gulliver trapped DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Versailles, France, Aug. 20, 2013 – Palace of Versailles DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Xi'an, China, Sept. 24, 2013 – Shiyuan Park DigitalGlobe—Getty Images Researchers also took a look at holiday lights during the holy month of Ramadan in the Middle East, where nighttime lights shine up to 50% brighter. Scientists discovered some cities were lit more heavily throughout the region, which they attributed to political or cultural differences. “Even within majority Muslim populations, there are a lot of variations,” said Eleanor Stokes, a graduate fellow at NASA. “What we’ve seen is that these lighting patterns track cultural variation within the Middle East.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3637018/nasa-holiday-lights/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3637018/nasa-holiday-lights/"},"headline":"NASA Can See Holiday Lights From Space","datePublished":"2014-12-17T01:57:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:38.261Z","description":"Cities are brighter during the holidays than any other time in the year","url":"https://time.com/3637018/nasa-holiday-lights/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2bf76540fb1b75dc/69876f47428a9e256fcc61dc/nasa-christmas-holiday-lights.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2bf76540fb1b75dc/69876f47428a9e256fcc61dc/nasa-christmas-holiday-lights.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NASA Holiday Lights","caption":"NASA Holiday Lights","creditText":"NASA's Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3637018/nasa-holiday-lights/","name":"NASA Can See Holiday Lights From Space"}}]}] ```