Truth about NASA's image of India on Diwali

Indians around the world celebrate Diwali by lighting lamps, and firecrackers as part of celebration. But in Facebook, Many people shared a colorful picture of India on Diwali, which was taken from space by NASA. In the picture, Indian subcontinent was looking bright and colorful compared to other parts of the world. While seeing the picture many were assumed that the brightness was due to firing of crackers on that night.


Actually, the picture was brightened to highlight the concentration of population in the cities in Indian subcontinent. Brightness was not due to the burning crackers. The extra light produced by crackers is low, and it is barely visible when observed from space.


It can be explained by another example. When we travel on a flight, we could see a street light of the city on a night only when the flight nearing an airport.


Below is the true description of the image.


In 2012, it began on November 11. On November 12, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of southern Asia. The image is based on data collected by the VIIRS “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared. The image has been brightened to make the city lights easier to distinguish. Most of the bright areas are cities and towns in India as India is home to more than 1.2 billion people and has 30 cities with populations over 1 million. Cities in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan are also visible at the edges of the image. That image, based on data from the Operational Linescan System flown on U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, is a color-composite created in 2003 by NOAA scientist Chris Elvidge to highlight population growth over time. In that image, white areas show city lights that were visible prior to 1992, while blue, green, and red shades indicate city lights that became visible in 1992, 1998, and 2003 respectively.


Source : http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=79682

The Musalman - Preservation of a Dream

The 'Musalman' is probably the last handwritten newspaper in the world. It has been published and read every day in South India's Chennai since 1927 in almost the same form. In the shadow of the Wallajah Mosque in Chennai, a team of six die hard workers still put out this hand-penned paper. Four of them are katibs -- writers dedicated to the ancient art of Urdu calligraphy. It's tough for the die-hard artists of Urdu calligraphy. But the story we tell here is not just of their desperation and despair. The fact is, at the office of 'The Musalman', the oldest Urdu daily in India, no one has ever quit. They work till they pass on. This is the story we tell.