NASA has released a new global night view of our planet as a rotating animation:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NPP/news/earth-at-night.html
Amazing by itself, but there is also a hi-res version. Supposedly, the original is detailed enough to be able to see a single ship.
http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/HD_downloads/earth_night_rotate_1080.mov
One thing puzzles me – there are many, large lighted areas in Western Australia, brighter than the east coast. I thought that was mostly kangaroos and koalas, not large cities – where is the light coming from? Is there an extensive surface mining operation going on at night?