Astronaut's Photos Document Global Shift from Orange to White City Lighting
NASA astronaut and photographer Don Pettit has documented a significant global transformation in city lighting over the past 23 years, observing the shift from warm, orange sodium vapor lights to brighter, white LED lights from the International Space Station. Pettit, who has photographed every major city on Earth across his four missions, has built a comprehensive dataset illustrating this gradual replacement. He notes that the 'warmer, yellow-orange of gas discharge lamps has been phased out worldwide to multi-colored LEDs,' primarily due to energy savings and environmental considerations. This widespread adoption has dramatically altered the appearance of cities from orbit and, as many have pointed out, how they feel to those on the ground. While the change is evident in most metropolitan areas, Hong Kong remains an exception, largely maintaining its sodium vapor lighting, in contrast to nearby Shenzhen which has fully embraced LED illumination. The transition was largely driven by the cost-effectivenes...
