Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In 2016, NASA released the Black Marble. 10 years later, I've used current satellite imagery to create a brand new 2026 version. In this video, we explore and compare the two to see how humanity has shifted, grown, and changed over the last decade.
Hidden within this brand-new image are millions of stories about humanity you can only see from space and at night. From a glowing river of light cutting through the Sahara, to entire countries blending into megacities, to borders that appear only as darkness, this single NASA image reveals where we live, how we’ve grown, and how fragile our civilisation really is.
Source: NASA
Discover your own Black Marble at: worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov
Watch this video next: What the Apollo Landing Sites Actually Look Like Through a Telescope: youtu.be/obedwzoleIQ?si=cRAx7jd7P_MVA_vb
If you’d like to support the creation of future V101 SPACE videos, you can join the V101 Alliance membership here:
youtube.com/channel/UC_MTPqgFSm_8WUWaCHIfUgQ/join
This is the smart telescope I use - Vaonis have kindly offered my viewers 10% off if you choose to use this link! vaonis.pxf.io/OeNXqQ
Timestamps:
00:00 – The Dark Side of Earth
00:46 – Recreating the Black Marble
01:33 – A River of Light
02:47 – The Megacity of Europe
03:26 – A Young Civilization
04:43 – Where Humanity Glows Brightest
05:47 – A Border Written in Darkness
06:58 – The Empty Earth
07:51 – Cities That Shouldn’t Exist
08:22 – When the Lights Go Out
09:17 – A City Like an Impact Crater
09:41 – A Fragile Web of Light
Business contact only: v101science@gmail.com
In 2016, NASA released the Black Marble. 10 years later, I've used current satellite imagery to create a brand new 2026 version. In this video, we explore and compare the two to see how humanity has shifted, grown, and changed over the last decade.
Hidden within this brand-new image are millions of stories about humanity you can only see from space and at night. From a glowing river of light cutting through the Sahara, to entire countries blending into megacities, to borders that appear only as darkness, this single NASA image reveals where we live, how we’ve grown, and how fragile our civilisation really is.
Source: NASA
Discover your own Black Marble at: worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov
Watch this video next: What the Apollo Landing Sites Actually Look Like Through a Telescope: youtu.be/obedwzoleIQ?si=cRAx7jd7P_MVA_vb
If you’d like to support the creation of future V101 SPACE videos, you can join the V101 Alliance membership here:
youtube.com/channel/UC_MTPqgFSm_8WUWaCHIfUgQ/join
This is the smart telescope I use - Vaonis have kindly offered my viewers 10% off if you choose to use this link! vaonis.pxf.io/OeNXqQ
Timestamps:
00:00 – The Dark Side of Earth
00:46 – Recreating the Black Marble
01:33 – A River of Light
02:47 – The Megacity of Europe
03:26 – A Young Civilization
04:43 – Where Humanity Glows Brightest
05:47 – A Border Written in Darkness
06:58 – The Empty Earth
07:51 – Cities That Shouldn’t Exist
08:22 – When the Lights Go Out
09:17 – A City Like an Impact Crater
09:41 – A Fragile Web of Light
Business contact only: v101science@gmail.com
