Diwali, or Deepawali is one of the biggest festival celebrated in India. Being the most special occasion for Hindu people, it is celebrated grandly all over India. It’s the festival of light, and celebrated as the victory of the good over bad and the light over darkness.

Lots of fireworks, lights and decorations can be seen on this very day. I was looking for how it looks from space in night – during my research, I found some interesting pics that shows how exactly India looks on Diwali night from satellite, and I’m sharing them (the pics) in this post.

Sometime ago, I noticed a pic of India on Diwali night satellite view, shared (it’s still been shared) by a lot of people over social networks, was false! See the below image, it’s a manipulated version of a satellite image of India:

False pics portraying India's view from space on Diwali night

The above pic was a color-composite form of the real image captured by USDMSP satellites , manipulated by researchers to highlight some population growth data.

Real Satellite view of Diwali night

It was December 6, 2012, the Diwali day when NASA captured the original night view of India from satellite. The conclusion they derived from this image by comparing it with the previously captured images is that India looks same as it looks on any night from satellite!

India from space on Diwali night

Why so?

Diwali night is the brightest night of the year in India, so why do not the satellite captures a brighter view of it? Well, the reason, as per the data provided by NASA, is: the extra light produced on Diwali is so subtle that it is likely imperceptible when observed from space.

The image is captured by Suomi NPP, a NASA satellite for National Polar-orbiting Partnership. It is brightened so that city lights can be easily seen. The bright areas in the image are mostly the Indian cities and towns, also covering areas from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan on the edges (borders).