composite image of Earth by night shows the city lights of the northern hemisphere and the illuminated crescent over Antarctica.

Credit: ESA 2005 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

The images were taken by the European Space Agency's Rosetta � the first mission designed to orbit and land on a comet � as the spacecraft made its closest approach to Earth during its second swing-by on November 13. The OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera captured the top image as Rosetta soared 49,700 miles (80,000 kilometers) above the Indian Ocean where local time approached midnight. The camera then snapped the bottom image as Rosetta was roughly 46,600 miles (75,000 kilometers) from Earth.

To find Baghdad, Hong Kong, or some other cities among the signs of human habitation that appear in the northern hemisphere, click here for more details.

After sending its picturesque postcard, Rosetta will head out to meet its comet target, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in 2014. The spacecraft originally launched in March 2004.

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