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  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: ISS050-E-29655 Date: Jan. 2017
Geographic Region: USA-NEW YORK
Feature: PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK, HARTFORD AT NIGHT

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  View Low-Resolution Image  
  New York City region at night

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) centered this night photograph on the most brilliant group of lights in the northeast US: New York city and Newark, NJ (at image center) lie at the center of the string of city lights stretching from a distance of 325 km (200 miles) from Philadelphia, PA (at image lower left) to Hartford, CT (top right). The characteristic shape of Long Island, during night and daylight passes may be the most recognizable feature to an astronaut.


Lesser night-light intensity parallels lower population densities--well illustrated on Long Island--where the progressive decline of population density away from cores of the largest cities. This is a phenomenon well-known to urban geographers.

Yet lower population densities appear in the southern counties of New Jersey in a dispersed settlement pattern that stretches 60 miles to Barnegat Bay (at image lower left). Here the barrier island is defined by narrow shoreline developments (at image lower left margin). Rural areas (at image top left) with the lowest populations have almost as few lights as the Atlantic Ocean (at image lower right).


The network thin lines of highways and main roads--difficult to see in daylight images--radiate outward from the major cities (Philadelphia is the best example in this view). One of the brightest lines is Interstate 95 that crosses the entire image, from a point west of Philadelphia, through New York--where it is drowned out New York city lights--and along the coast of Long Island Sound to New Haven and further east.


Astronauts choose a lens for the size of the area they want to capture in an image. This image was taken with a short (45 mm) lens. It shows the difference in area compared with that captured by a long lens (800 mm)--as used for example, for images of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

 
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Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 106k
Mission: ISS050  
Roll - Frame: E - 29655
Geographical Name: USA-NEW YORK  
Features: PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK, HARTFORD AT NIGHT  
Center Lat x Lon: 40.5N x 73.5W
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera: N6
 
Camera Tilt: 20   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 45  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: S   The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West
Stereo?:   Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't
Orbit Number:  
 
Date: 20170110   YYYYMMDD
Time: 073143   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 41.7N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 73.1W  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 70   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 213   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: -53   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views:  
Water Views:  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views:  
City Views:  
Photo is not associated with any sequences


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