Which city is best illuminated in the world?

The answer can be found by looking at pictures of our planet from space. All mega cities on Earth at night seem like a huge octopus with tentacles glowing stretched in different parts of its main roads.

But the most lit city in the world despite its modest size is Las Vegas. With the fall of night over its territory of 80 square miles are included to illuminate more than 24,000 neon lights. Behind him the degree of illumination is arranged as follows  New York, Paris, Tokyo and Mexico City. According astronauts Moscow does not give many of the largest metropolises in the world. But light transport routes are lost due to the large spaces, while in the U.S., for example, they are clearly visible and cover the whole country, the blood vessels.

Not long ago, Italian astronomer  Pierantonio Chintsano and Fabio Falqui issued the first atlas of lighting the night sky. Map of the night sky over the U.S., Europe, Japan and Canada look like a huge bright spot against the rest of the "dark" continent. As it turned out, 98% of the inhabitants of Europe, although clear nights can not see stars in the sky because of urban lighting which spread diffusely pale orange light.

Environmentalists argue that excessive coverage with a bright light in the cities leads to a new environmental problem - the light pollution. It has long been known that trees are subjected to  bright lights, live less and are sick more often and spend more less oxygen. However, whether this applies to humans is a controversial issue.