Lights OutA false-color satellite picture illustrates power outages in Japan following the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami. (See 20 unforgettable pictures from the Japan disaster.)Scientists compared data from the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program collected in 2010 with data from the day of the disaster. Yellow regions show where lights are on, while red blotches reveal where lights that had been on in 2010 have gone dark.The loss of light is concentrated in a band stretching from the northern suburbs of Tokyo to regions north of the port city of Sendai, closest to the quake's epicenter.
Image courtesy DMSP/USAF/NOAA

Space Pictures This Week: Supernova Stripes, Trojan Moon

Satellites spy power outages in Japan, a supernova remnant shows its stripes, and more in the week's best space pictures.

Published March 25, 2011