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The coolest thing I noticed about this picture is how you can track all the major highways. Some of them look like dotted lines of light. Guess I've got a new background.
Picture 3 shows bright lights in the Simpson desert in Australia where no-one lives. Maybe some aboriginal groups lit particularly large camp fires that night?
In the northern parts of Western Australia as those lights are way too close to the coast to be in the Simpson Desert look much more like the Kimberly though.
Remember up in that part of WA there are numerous Mines and mines in development. Not to mention the Proposed Gas Processing Plant that is at the stage of Preliminary Development. I would imagine that any 1 Billion $ Development would be well light once it had been established where it would be located.
Also the Ord River Scheme has been around for more than a few years and it's in that part of the world as well. Have they started on Stage 2 of that development yet. If they have the Dam Construction would be a very bright place at night.
Col
Remember up in that part of WA there are numerous Mines and mines in development. Not to mention the Proposed Gas Processing Plant that is at the stage of Preliminary Development. I would imagine that any 1 Billion $ Development would be well light once it had been established where it would be located.
Also the Ord River Scheme has been around for more than a few years and it's in that part of the world as well. Have they started on Stage 2 of that development yet. If they have the Dam Construction would be a very bright place at night.
Col
I just looked at the Simpson desert on Google Maps and the concentration of lights appears to be in Western Australia, not Simpson Desert which is closer to the center of the continent.
As with the preceding comments - where is all that light in the middle of Australia coming from? There is nothing out there but desert.
Some of those lights are mining camps but a lot of them are bushfires that have burning due to lightning strikes in the areas and in some cases have been burning for weeks.
Have to say this first, TechRepublic please get a new image viewer integrated because the whole page refreshes for each new image needing to be viewed.
Secondly, NASA process and clean-up the images, So I am not convinced of these being their true reflection of what they actually look like.
Secondly, NASA process and clean-up the images, So I am not convinced of these being their true reflection of what they actually look like.
I don't find these pictures at all incredible. In fact they're totally believable. Journalists, please learn the meanings of words before you use them. Amazing pictures, wonderful pictures, even (that awful currently fashionable word) 'awesome', but NOT incredible.
Map 3 has Australia down under (of course) but judging by the intesity of light the kanagroos were sure busy leaving their spotights on in the desert of Western Australia. Nobody lives there so why all the lights that rival Florida?
I totally agree with GrantO45 above ..... what are those msytery lights in the middle of the desert in the north of Western Australia (WA) ... hhhhhmmmmm .... as far as I am aware the total population of that area of WA would be around 2,500 people in an area of about 1million sqaure kilometres.
Is this NASA playing hoaxes again ?????
Is this NASA playing hoaxes again ?????
I'm pleased to see others noticed the surprising lights in WA desert, as that's the first thing I noticed..
Cannot be photos cos there could not possibly be that much light in outback WA compared to Perth and the tiny glimpse you get of Australia's major eastern seaboard cities. So this is really a lesson to treat information provided by Tech Republic as untrustworthy.
I see Port Headland International Airport in the north, or maybe that's a reflection off of the Solar Salt Farm holding ponds. That's Perth in the south.
Wow look at Puerto Rico on the caribbean, very bright. Also shows the concentration around the big cities and population associated..Nice view and tool..
For an explaination on the outback lights; read here:
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Wildfires_Light_Up_Western_Australia_999.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Wildfires_Light_Up_Western_Australia_999.html
Carnegie Station is 700km east of Carnarvon WA; easy to spot on the NASA image,
The edge of Lake Carnegie 100km South West of the Station is easy to see.
The station blog for Oct/Nov makes an interesting read:
"Fires have kept us very busy more recently.... even with the station evacuated for a small time lots of fire preparation tidying up fires breaks etc ... Fires caused primarily by lightening strikes we get lots of dry storms out here and its not uncommon for the lighten to hit the spinifex and with no rain fires are quick to start. The fires have been burning for weeks on end ....they seem to be coming under control now... However weeks into the fires ....
http://www.carnegiestation.com.au/blog.html
The edge of Lake Carnegie 100km South West of the Station is easy to see.
The station blog for Oct/Nov makes an interesting read:
"Fires have kept us very busy more recently.... even with the station evacuated for a small time lots of fire preparation tidying up fires breaks etc ... Fires caused primarily by lightening strikes we get lots of dry storms out here and its not uncommon for the lighten to hit the spinifex and with no rain fires are quick to start. The fires have been burning for weeks on end ....they seem to be coming under control now... However weeks into the fires ....
http://www.carnegiestation.com.au/blog.html
Interesting that this map so closely matches a recent map (US-only) that shows population density with one dot = 1 person. (http://bmander.com/dotmap/index.html)
In the NASA Map, it's probably more like 1 light = 100 people or whatever, but it still seems pretty clear that with few exceptions, population = light.
The exceptions (like the Australian Outback, presumably) are even more interesting, however...
In the NASA Map, it's probably more like 1 light = 100 people or whatever, but it still seems pretty clear that with few exceptions, population = light.
The exceptions (like the Australian Outback, presumably) are even more interesting, however...
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