The India-Pakistan Border From The International Space Station: A Unique View Of Asia (PHOTO)

This is like a modern Great Wall of China.

The bright orange line on the photo below, which was taken from the International Space Station, isn't photoshopped or cleverly highlighted to show an otherwise indiscernable line. It's an actual line of lights separating a hostile Asian border.

It's the border between India and Pakistan, and it clearly shows just how divided these two nations are.

From NASA's Earth Observatory:

A striking feature is the line of lights, with a distinctly orange hue, snaking across the center of the image. It appears to be more continuous and brighter than most highways in the view. This is the fenced and floodlit border zone between India and Pakistan. The fence is designed to discourage smuggling and arms trafficking. A similar fenced zone separates India’s eastern border from Bangladesh (not visible).

The photo also holds another little treat, an aura high above the Earth that seems to curve perfectly with the planet's edge. This glow is created by radiation hitting the Earth's atmosphere, according to the Earth Observatory.

The photo itself was taken with a Nikon D3S digital camera using a 16mm lens and is a bit blurry because of a one second shutter-speed that allowed for additional light absorption.

Comments

[Gary Moscowitz]

05:37 PM on 09/19/2011

And we can't get a fence up between Mexico and the US. That's pretty sick when one country just emerging from the third world (India) and one country still in the throws of thrid world politics and insurrection can manage a lighted boarder!

[imusintheevening]

04:17 PM on 09/19/2011

I remember flying over the India - Pakistan border once on a flight from Frankfurt to Singapore. In addition to the well lit border the thundershowers were sparking lightning everywhere - it was surreal.

[RajX]

07:16 PM on 09/07/2011

The arabized Pakistani Islamist Faisal Zeshad tried to set off a car bomb in new york times square. The bomb did not go off because of that pakistanis incompetence. He was caught trying to flee to Pakistan. I won't be surprised if events like these happen here regularly in the US carried out by Faisal's arabized islamist ilk.

[-PZ-]

04:28 AM on 09/08/2011

That is definitely a possibility...

You cant bomb people whole scale and expect them to go quietly away into the night...

OK, let me explain this so that you understand what actually going on.

JDAMs come in 3 sizes... Theres the 500 pounder, the 1000 pounder and the 2000 pounder...

The US used 3000 JDams (500 Pounders / 1000 Pounders / 2000 Pounders) during the first 9 months of the war on terror in Afghanista­n.

A single 2000 pounder kills 100% of the people within 500 meters and 50% of the people in 1 KM. The actual area of effect is about 1.6 KMs

The hiroshima bomb had a fireball with a diameter of 3.2 kms. How many 2000 pound JDams equal the effect of a hiroshima bomb?

These bombs were dropped on villages, not trees or stones. You cannot tell one body from another if you're caught in one of these. Limbs get blown off and people turn to jello.

More bombs were dropped in Iraq.

For argument's sake I'll assume that all 3000 JDAMs were 500 pounders. A 500 pounder will kill 100% of the people in 125 meters and 50% of the people in 250 meters.

This means that 100% of the people in 375 Kms died. or 50% of the people in 750 Kms died.

[gc 99]

05:52 PM on 09/08/2011

I have seen some of your other comments. They usually go off-topic. You have tried to justify terror by providing example of how others are indulging in terror so it is unfair for the world to point out Islamic terror. Wow! Amazing thought process. If this is what majority of Muslims think like than good luck to peace in the Muslim world and also that means the West has to calibrate their strategy against such fanatical thinking. How can you reason with such deeply ingrained opinions.

[jaysan]

11:29 PM on 09/08/2011

-PZ- to turn it back the other way, likewise Pakistanis can't keep conducting terror bombings against Indians and expect them to roll over and play dead. No, the Pakistanis can expect much-deserved payback.

Neither can white Left-wingers keep reflexively justifying Islamist terrorism and violent intolerance towards non-Muslims -- many of whom are non-white -- and expect that the groups on the receiving end of such persecution will forget the negative role played by the Left in this regard. Likewise, the Left are going to get their payback too.

Plenty of us are keeping score, and we have a long memory.

[aquasport222]

04:07 PM on 09/07/2011

When will the US bet a nice brightly lit and defended southern border to prevent Trafficing?

[Jitoo Parekh]

04:04 PM on 09/07/2011

There is a Burning Orange Line between India and Pakistan as seen From Space. (God/Allah/Baghwan)

[gc 99]

05:55 PM on 09/08/2011

So you mean to say Pakistan is Islamic nation, which is true and India is a Hindu nation. Which, per my understanding is not true. Isn't India a secular democracy with 180Million muslims? Maybe, I am wrong.

[Jitoo Parekh]

09:28 PM on 09/08/2011

At the Time of Partition, Pakistan was to be a Islamic Nation and India a Hindu Nation.Like America, India is a Free Country and not controlled by any Dictators. Is this a Secular Democracy? Muslims have MORE Freedom in India than ANY Muslim Countries.

[Jitoo Parekh]

04:02 PM on 09/07/2011

Beautiful Orange Line between India and Pakistan... Is it Burning?

[Pak Israel]

04:02 PM on 09/07/2011

A bomb blast in Delhi is what Indians keep mentioning on their board, however how about the millions your armed forces have been murdering since your freedom? Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, none have been spared, esp. not in Kashmir.

Same day as the Delhi Blasts three bombs were blasted in Pakistan killing innocent lives there, but you pathetic looneys don't seem to think they matter.

You place the Fence, You have the unGodly number of troops along the border, and you stop the flow of water into their country yet YOU cant seem to defend yourself.

wow.

[grittyreboot]

04:31 PM on 09/07/2011

you mention indian armed forces in Kashmir, but not why they were deployed there.

you mention Pakistan terror, but not the ISI who funds the terrorists.

you mention the Fence, but no mention of Kargill or any other numerous incursions by Pakistani military and govt-funded terrorists over the border.

you mention water issues, but make it sound like only east-to-west water flow is a problem, and not vice versa.

Both governments have plenty of evil to answer for, but your apologia for the Pakistani govt's complete failure to protect its people, and its support for the very monsters that torture poor average pakistanis is quite sad.

[-PZ-]

05:10 PM on 09/07/2011

Pakistan failed to protect its people the day it signed up to make war without known objectives... The day it signed on to fighting a problem which should have solved with better policing and application of a better justice system; with bombs, planes and artillery.

With 30,000 dead (Civilians, generals, soldiers etc) and home to the largest refugee populations on earth; no one has the right to say that Pakistan is not doing its part in the war.

We have bled enough and owe nothing to anyone. In my humble opinion, the west should be told to fly in its supplies to Afghanistan from Russia, Iran or space. Let them keep their windfall of of 2.5 billion USD per year (Which they pay to Pakistan) and continue the status quo at 4 billion USD per week.

We'll just raise taxes by 1 % and make up for the difference...

[BigOil2]

05:38 PM on 09/07/2011

Bunch of Pakistani propaganda. Everybody else is always doing something wrong to you, The U.S., UK, Israel, India. It's always somebody else. The bombs going off in Pakistan are due to the terrorist monster that you created and supported yourself. Why is your economy such a mess?
The so called water issue is another crazed propaganda being peddled by Pakistani's, undoubtedly looking for an excuse for another war. International monitoring experts have confirmed that India is abiding by the water treaty.
As for killing "millions", how about the 3 million Bangladeshi's murdered by the racist Pakistani's who called them black dogs. Of course everything is a conspiracy against you. Pakistani are killing each other today. No need for anyone to do anything.
The Indian subcontinent was inhabited by Hindus, Buddhists and other for thousands of years before the desert invaders arrived, so your any of your territorial claims are hollow.

[-PZ-]

06:19 PM on 09/07/2011

3 million bengalis killed by 45,000 Pakistan army in 1971????

90 K POWs out of which half were civil servants...

Lets see 3 million divided by 45,000 comes to 70 odd people, So you're saying that each Pakistani soldier killed 70 odd people???

Short of nukes it aint doable. It was the height of the cold war. the 3 million figure is what they call propaganda.

3 divisions of the Pakistani army fought 13 divisions of the indian army and the hordes of the multi bahini.
1 pakistani airbase with 6 sabres against 6 indian airbases and 200 Indian sorties a day.

Thats why India won in 1971...

According to the Rig Veda, the leader of the Aryan invasion was one Indra, and his role in “slaying the Dasyus” (the Negroids in India) is prominent in the Rig Veda:

"Thou, Indra, art the destroyer of all the cities, the slayer of the Dasyus, the prosperer of man, the lord of the sky." - RgV. VIII 87.6

The Rig Veda goes on to use the word “black” in a number of instances to describe the Dasyu:

"Indra, the slayer of Vrittra, the destroyer of cities, has scattered the Dasyu (hosts) sprang from a black womb." RgV. II 20.6

THE “ARYAN COLOR” – THE RIG VEDA

The Rig Veda praises the god who "destroyed the Dasyans and protected the Aryan colour." - Rg.V. III 34.9

[-PZ-]

06:21 PM on 09/07/2011

It then goes on to thank the god who "bestowed on his white friends the fields, bestowed the sun, bestowed the waters." - Rg.V. I 100.18

Black skin is repeatedly referred to with abhorrence in the Rig Veda: starting with a description of the "black skin" (`Krishnam Vacham') in RgV. IX 41.1, Sam. V I.491 and II.242.

RgV. IX 73 “stormy gods who rush on like furious bulls and scatter the black skin", “the black skin, the hated of Indra" will be swept out of heaven - RgV. IX 73.5

Rg.V. I 130.8 tells of how the “black skin” was conquered:

"Indra protected in battle the Aryan worshipper, he subdued the lawless for Manu, he conquered the black skin."

The Rig Veda thanks god for "scattering the slave bands of black descent", and for stamping out "the vile Dasyan colour." - Rg.V. II.20.7, II 12.4

It also contains this choice remark which sums up the Aryan’s opinion of their non-white subjects: "Black skin is impious" (‘Dasam varnam adharam’) -Sans., Rg.V. II.12.4

Indra - 1.130.8 - "Indra in battles help his Aryan worshipper, he who hath hundred helps at hand in every fray, in frays that win the light of heaven. Plaguing the lawless he gave up to Manu's seed the dusky skin; Blazing, 'twere, he burns each covetous man away, he burns, the tyrannous away."

[FedUpIndian]

02:14 PM on 09/07/2011

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

If we forget this in India, we pay with our lives, as a dozen people did this morning in Delhi.

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

[Pak Israel]

04:03 PM on 09/07/2011

Uhuh, so what do you call murdering and raping Kashmiris'? Price of Freedom?

how about the Christians, the Sikhs? if India is so fast growing and smart, you think you guys would learn about your own history.

Politicians suck but dumb ppeople vote them in

[xoloitzcuintle]

06:35 PM on 09/07/2011

You cannot be simultaneously fenced in and free.

[RajX]

07:22 PM on 09/07/2011

Yes. Like the us Mexican fenced border and u don't even have Islamist terrorists in Mexico. Terrible.

[NightLevine]

01:19 PM on 09/07/2011

this reminds me of the Night Time Map google has ... best economic map!
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~pesti/night/

[Man is God]

12:56 PM on 09/07/2011

I wonder how it feels to take dump directly over earth.

[jmalko1]

04:05 PM on 09/07/2011

Considering the weightlessness -- sounds a bit tricky.

[Neil Pharr]

12:27 PM on 09/07/2011

There would be no border (just one unified India) if it were not for the failures of Islam, Hinduism and Gandhi to voice the universality of the human race.

[BigOil2]

06:00 PM on 09/07/2011

So you are saying the current war on terror and tension between the West and Pakistan is a failure of the West to voice the universality of the human race with the Islamic world?

[Neil20]

12:20 PM on 09/07/2011

And those big and small patches of bright lights are most probably towns and cities. Can you imagine how much urbanization has taken place in these countries too? Where are the dark, unlit areas that would indicate forests? This photograph from space, albeit beautiful, has a grim tale to tell if you interpret it through the eyes of an environmentalist. Green is losing out! Sad!

[mmsuki]

12:42 PM on 09/07/2011

Yep, and it's only going to get worse.
The national parks around the world will be taken over by the burgeoning human population.

[Atul Kapur]

02:41 PM on 09/07/2011

And what this picture does not still show is the silently weeping soldiers missing their loved ones on both sides of the orange line

[gc 99]

06:04 PM on 09/08/2011

Atul, see per my understanding Indian Army is a volunteer not a draft or conscription army. So your comment regarding soldiers "weeping" is an overstatement, maybe.

[ShakesPalin]

12:15 PM on 09/07/2011

Now let us take India's lead by putting a similar fence and protect it on our Southern Border with Mexico to stop the drug gangs in their tracks! Or is India being racist trying to protect itself? Just look at Mexico's Southern border, well protected vs. their Northern porous border.

[dwes09]

02:01 PM on 09/07/2011

There is no major racial difference between India and Pakistan really (and both have several ethnicities). It is a religious/cultural difference. India is majority Hindu, and strongly influenced culturally by England while Pakistan is essentially Muslim and remains strongly tribal.

The fortified border is a reflection of the worst aspects of nationalism and arrogance on the part of those two countries. Is that what you want to emulate?

Of course Mexico's southern border is very short in length, making it much more easily fortified than our southern border. Before we spend the money to build a fence, we should spend the money to stop Americans from selling arms to the Mexican drug gangs, and increase border patrols (job creation)!

[farberj]

02:30 PM on 09/07/2011

correction, stop the us justice dpt from selling arms to the mexican drug gangs.

[amanacep]

02:39 PM on 09/07/2011

About the religious/cultural difference: India is home to more Muslims than Pakistan. However, Pakistan's government is Islamic while India's is secular. Indians and Pakistanis are not culturally different either. So what separates them? just an artificial line and bloody history created by selfish politicians.

[haydesigner]

02:10 PM on 09/07/2011

I assume you've done the research and can now show us the proof of the success of the Indian/Pakistani border fence? Or will your proof be merely that the fence exists, so OF COURSE it is working?

[king soloman]

12:09 PM on 09/07/2011

hey u can actually see stars in this pic. a rare for space pics.

[PedroLeon]

12:40 PM on 09/07/2011

I noticed that too! A product of the 1 second shutter release and 2.8 aperture.

[RajX]

07:31 PM on 09/07/2011

Less light pollution.

[king soloman]

03:58 PM on 09/08/2011

in space?

[Robert Goetz]

11:58 AM on 09/07/2011

What is wrong with you posters? The fence was constructed to isolate the state of Pakistan from India. India carved off part of its' terriority to create the nation of Pakistan. Why was this done that is what you most ask yourself. Pakistan was created for those Muslims in India who refused to coexist in the Hindu society of India. If India can construct and control a border fence we can do the same thing but for not the same reason.

[-PZ-]

12:51 PM on 09/07/2011

And then millions of muslims died in an orgy of violence...

It is very similar to the violence which saw the lynching of a couple of hundred Christians in Orissa recently...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehzOnu85k10&feature=related

Highly recommended footage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z0nGmZOFWA

or which saw the deaths of thousands of muslims in gujrat (Not a single person has been found guilty)...

I have an old picture of the Mayo hospital in Lahore 1947... In it you can see bodies piled into a mountain of sorts... Trains used to come from India which were filled with dead bodies. There were mobs which attacked and killed entire trains filled with people... If you want, I can scan the picture and host it somewhere...

[gc 99]

01:21 PM on 09/07/2011

There is no excuse for Islamic fundamentalist terror! So please stop pointing fingers at others and look inside. Unless that happens nothing would change, really.

[amanacep]

02:45 PM on 09/07/2011

A lot of Hindus were killed too during the partition. The problem is when you blame one side for the partition (1947). The financing of the terrorist groups by Pakistan that kills innocent Indian citizens, however..

[xoloitzcuintle]

06:41 PM on 09/07/2011

I guess you hadn't heard, but it was the Hindus who were slaughtering Muslims that eventually led to their exodus north.