The International Space Station Took An Aerial Shot Of Winnipeg At Night & It's So Bright

Aerial shots from space give us a whole new perspective on cities we know and love. A photo from the International Space Station of this Canadian city shows just how many lights there are in Manitoba's capital. Winnipeg at night from space is so bright it's almost blinding.

The International Space Station is, on average, 400 kilometres above the Earth, orbiting around our planet and taking spectacular photos of what's down below.

During the night of January 7, four aerial shots of cities on Earth were posted on the station's Twitter page, including one of Winnipeg.

"City lights, oh so bright, deep at night, all around the world," the tweet said. 

Along with the aerial photo of Winnipeg and it's shining city lights, the International Space Station also posted photos of New York City, Dammam, Saudi Arabia and Bucharest, Romania.

While each city gives off lots of light, Winnipeg is surprisingly the brightest of them all, even brighter than New York City.

Plus, it's also the prettiest.

The bright white lights of the city are intersected by the darkness of the Red and Assiniboine rivers.

Even though the station is far away, you can the gridlines of all the streets in the city, and even the airport, if you know where to find it.

The bright city lights of Winnipeg are nice to see on the ground, especially when you drive down a 2.5-kilometre road of Christmas lights, but they're made even more enchanting when you see them from above.

Even though it's a pretty sight, not everyone was jazzed about the aerial shots from the International Space Station, especially when it comes to light pollution.

Somebody else asked, "is this much night-time lighting necessary?"

Others marvelled at Winnipeg's brightness.

One person wondered "how is Winnipeg so much brighter than New York?"

On a regular January night, Winnipeg is pretty bright, and it retains its brightness through the early hours of the morning.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir took a photo of the city from the International Space Station at 5:30 a.m. on January 1, probably long after people had ended their New Year's Eve celebrations.

However, the city lights were still as bright.

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