NASA picture shows Indo-Pak border by night

A digital photograph of the Indo-Pak borderlands at night taken by the crew of NASA’s International Space Station.

An astronaut photograph of the Indo-Pakistan borderlands taken by the crew of the International Space Station of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on August 21 reveals the various large and small cities in India and Pakistan as clusters of yellow lights.

The photographs were released by NASA on September 5. Of the hundreds of clusters, the largest ones are Islamabad and New Delhi. These cities are 700 km apart. The lines of major highways connecting the cities also stand out. More subtle but still visible at night are the general outlines of the towering and partly cloud-covered Himalayas.

A striking feature is the line of light with a distinctly orange hue across the centre of the photograph. It appears to be more continuous and brighter than the highways. It is the fenced and floodlight border zone between India and Pakistan. The fence is designed to discourage smuggling and arms trafficking.