A photo for Yuri's Night

[robkelk]

Moscow from orbit:



Full-size image (4256x2832 pixels) available here:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120412.html

Edit: ... and on the FenWiki
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Sweno]

That's going in my desktop pictures folder.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Bob Schroeck]

It's already gone in mine.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Logan Darklighter]

wow... 

Yeah. Saved as well. 

Heh. For some reason though, Moscow from space reminds me of when I heard the old story about how The Sea of Moscow on the far side of the moon got named. 

When Luna 3 photographed the far side of the moon for the first time, one of the depressions, or "Seas" was named Mare Moscoviense (the Sea of Moscow) by the Soviet scientists. At the International Astronomical Union (IAU) it was pointed out by American astronomers that accepted convention was to name ancient volcanic basins on the moon after states of mind. As in "Sea Of Tranquility" Sea of Storms", "Sea of Serenity". 

As I heard the story, one of the Russian scientists interjected, "but Moscow IS a state of mind." At which point the other members of the committee laughed and approved the name. 

[Wiregeek]

pictures from space always make me a bit teary.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Stephen Mann]

I'm fascinated by how much Moscow looks like a strange droplet splash. The radial arms and the lights scattered around really do look like a splash and splatter. What quirk of local geography and industry created that pattern?
That's why night shots like this are so interesting to me; I always wonder what the patterns of light reveal about human settlement patterns.
Steve

[Black Aeronaut]

With Moscow, that one's easy. Stalin wanted everything in Russia to center around Moscow. Even the clocks - every clock in Russia at one point in time ran on Moscow time. Even the ones clear out in Siberia.