Milan at night in 2012

Milan at night, Italy, as seen by ESA astronaut André Kuipers aboard the International Space Station in 2012. It shows Milan before the transition to LED technology. The many different streetlight colours visible indicate the use of different lighting technologies.

André used a digital camera with 180 mm-lenses to take this picture from the International Space Station.

Colour pictures taken from the International Space Station are the best source for scientists to map artificial light at night.

This image has been colour-calibrated by the International Astronomical Union.