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chapotraphouse @hexbear.net thebartermyth [he/him] @hexbear.net 2 mo. ago

This is a composite image

You can't literally see lights from space or whatever. If somewhere had less coverage on google maps you wouldn't think it's uninhabited, but for some reason, people irl seem to be constantly referring to this image as though it's a literal picture. Mostly for 'civilized' reasons, but also light pollution and just other stuff. Maybe this just made the rounds on reddit or something?

27 comments

You CAN see the lights from space and light pollution is a big problem.
I'm bothered by the large bright spot in West Siberia.
- looks like there's a lot of oil/gas wells in that region, they might have a lot of big lights set up for nighttime operations
  
  It still seems way bigger than their energy production would require. That area is larger than all of Central Europe and just as brightly lit with a tiny fraction of the population.
- Don't worry about it. This is not a request.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamalo-Nenets_Autonomous_Okrug
  
  looks like its this area. Lots of resource extraction going on
i uhh, i thought you could see the lights from space?

https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS028&roll=E&frame=33400
- Those are taken with an 8-20 second shutter speed which takes in considerably more light. In some cases they actually take several dozen photos in the same spot then stitch them together as one picture, this brings out light considerably more than it is visible usually.
  
  Here's live video, you will see little to no light: https://youtu.be/DfEr5XCFNWM
  
  that's more bc of the poor quality the ISS main cam is versus the new EHDC camera, you can see lights at night on the higher res livestream camera
  
  I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
  
  yewtu.be
  
  inv.nadeko.net
  
  yt.artemislena.eu
  
  piped.video
- city lights are most definitely visible from low earth orbit. astronauts aboard the ISS have said as much.
The most accurate map of light pollution regulations
whats this secret super metropole in Russia ?

Do they have a secret Megacity
- You mean this ?
  
  It's the "shine" part in moonshine.
  
  yeah what is that ? maybe they build a secret second soviet union , and then never told us about ?
- oil rich area. probably just relatively more going on compared to the surrounding area
people irl seem to be constantly referring to this image as though it's a literal picture.

Did they forget about weather and time zones again?
This is Antarctica erasure!

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