A breathtaking ancient image of Earth at night, published by the American space agency NASA lately, offers a clear insight of the patterns of human settlements around our world.

For nearly 25 years, satellite photographs of the Earth at night, popularly known as "night lights," have sparked the public's interest and served as a vital tool for basic research. They have drawn a vast and breathtaking image of how humanity have created the planet and illuminated the night. 

Now, NASA has posted a 2016 image of our planet's night lights on Instagram. It displays the Earth's outline as a faint blue glow. Additionally, it displays the brilliant city lights of northern Africa and Europe. 

"The image depicts Earth's nighttime illumination as it was observed in 2016. It was created using a compositing approach that chose the best cloud-free nights over each land mass throughout each month of the year. Added for aesthetic purposes were clouds and sunlight, the American space agency noted in the post's title.

The space agency said, quoting former NASA scientist Miguel Roman, "With the use of this data, we can monitor short-term changes brought on by disturbances in power transmission, such as conflict, storms, earthquakes, and brownouts." 

We can keep track of cycles brought on by recurring human activities like Christmas decorating and periodic migrations. We can also keep an eye on the slow changes brought on by urbanization, emigration, shifting economic conditions, and electrification. It's really mind-boggling that we can track all these various elements that go into defining a city, said Mr. Roman.  

Just one day after NASA posted the picture, it has already received more than a million likes and many comments. One user referred to "Our wonderful earth." Another remarked, "Wow, what a beautiful world."

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