From Athens in 1896 to London this year, the summer Olympic games have been held in 22 cities around the world. The cities are all different, of course, but all look dazzling in a new set of satellite photos released by NASA.

"We have a fleet of earth observing satellites capturing images every day," Rebecca Roth, image coordinator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told The Huffington Post in an email. "This was a great way to share some of those great views with the public."

The earliest image of the set shows Atlanta on May 11, 1997. The most recent, showing London, was taken on March 27, 2012. In some of the photos, international borders are visible as well as dazzling lights and landscapes.

The Olympic motto is "citius, altius, fortius," Latin for "faster, higher, stronger"... "we especially like the 'higher' part," Roth said.

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  • London (2012 Olympics)

    Date: 2012 Instrument: Suomi NPP - VIIRS

  • London (2012 Olympics)

    Date: 2012 Instrument: Suomi NPP - VIIRS

  • Beijing (2008 Olympics)

    Date: 2010 Instrument: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

  • Athens (2004 Olympics)

    Date: 2004 Instrument: Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite

  • Atlanta (2004 Olympics)

    Date: 1997/1998 Instrument: Airborne ATLAS instrument. Landsat Thematic Mapper.

  • Sydney (2000 Olympics)

    Date: 2002 Robert Simmon and Reto Stöckli

  • Barcelona (1992 Olympics)

    Date: 2011 Instrument: Nikon D3S digital camera aboard ISS

  • Seoul (1988 Olympics)

    Date: 2003 Instrument: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite

  • Los Angeles (1984 Olympics)

    Instrument: Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite. NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team

  • Moscow (1980 Olympics)

    Date: 2002 Instrument: Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+), flying aboard the Landsat 7 satellite

  • Montreal (1976 Olympics)

    Date: 2010 Instrument: Nikon D3S digital camera aboard ISS

  • Munich (1972 Olympics)

    Date: 2006 Instrument: Kodak 760C digital camera aboard ISS.

  • Mexico City (1968 Olympics)

    Instrument: Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

  • Tokyo (1964 OIympics)

    Date: 2005-2007 Instrument: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

  • Rome (1960 Olympics)

    Date: 2012 Instrument: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite

  • Melbourne (1956 Olympics)

    Instrument: Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5)

  • Helsinki (1952 Olympics)

    Date: 2003 Instrument: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite

  • Berlin (1936 Olympics)

    Date: 2005 Instrument: Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite

  • Amsterdam (1928 Olympics)

    Date: 2009 Instrument: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite.

  • Paris (1924 Olympics)

    Date: 2000 Instrument: ASTER, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer

  • Antwerp (1920 Olympics)

    Date: 2001 Instrument: Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+)

  • Stockholm (1912 Olympics)

    Date: 2010 Instrument: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite

  • St. Louis (1904 Olympics)

    Date: 2009 Instrument: Terra - MODIS

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