How do you locate a country as small as Belgium from space? Easy. Just wait for the night to fall, look down on earth and find the brightest spot.
There once was a time when the Belgian highways were illuminated nearly 100% at night. Since 2011, a lot of the lights are switched off during parts of the night to save money and energy, but nonetheless Belgium still stands out every now and then after dark, due to its very high density of roads. The proof is in the pictures! Here’s a recent photo, shot by the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet:
Night passes are magical, a glittering carpet of lights as beautiful as you can imagine! Belgium is easy to spot thanks to its lit motorways pic.twitter.com/HUc43knmT2
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) 10 februari 2017
More nighttime pictures by NASA:
