Michigan sparkles in first New Year's satellite images from space

[Siwsan]

After a night spent bidding goodbye to 2020, sometimes those first photos of the New Year aren’t so flattering. But not when you’re talking about our very own Mitten. Michigan looks downright delightful in two new satellite images snapped earlier today.

They show the vast, open water of Lake Superior, cloud cover over Lake Michigan, and all the sparkling lights of cities big and small, from Detroit up to Traverse City.

“Here are two of the first 2021 images from the Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 satellites when they flew over the U.S. overnight to acquire stunning VIIRS nighttime imagery with light from (the) recently full moon (98% illumination),” said staff at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CIMSS posted the two images on its Facebook page.

“City lights shimmer in the wintry landscape while a large storm swirls in the Mississippi Valley. Including a zoom into the Great Lakes Region because there’s no place like home!”

“Here are two of the first 2021 images from the Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 satellites when they flew over the U.S. overnight to acquire stunning VIIRS nighttime imagery with light from (the) recently full moon (98% illumination),” said staff at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CIMSS posted the two images on its Facebook page.

“City lights shimmer in the wintry landscape while a large storm swirls in the Mississippi Valley. Including a zoom into the Great Lakes Region because there’s no place like home!”