London at night – A decade of changes in street lighting

London, capital of the United Kingdom, at night as seen from the International Space Station 10 years apart.

The images were taken 400 km above Earth by André Kuipers in 2012 (left) and by Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022 (right).

Both astronauts used the same lenses (180 mm) but not the same angle or camera. These images have been colour-calibrated.

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

Over the last two decades astronauts are witnessing from space how cities shine whiter at night as new street lighting technologies were introduced.

More than half of all the public street lighting in the UK was converted to white LEDs by early 2019.

Researchers highlight how invasive night lights are and their negative effects for the environment in the paper Environmental risks from artificial nighttime lighting widespread and increasing across Europe.