New pictures from space show Miami-Dade is a different color now. Here’s why

A NASA astronaut captured a stunning change in Miami’s lighting from the International Space Station.

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Astronaut Don Pettit, who lived a total of 590 days in space and has 13 spacewalk hours, posted photos on X that show how Miami-Dade has shifted from yellow-orange sodium-vapor lights to multicolored LEDs. The photos show “changes in lighting technology” from 2012 to 2025.

“The city grid really pops!” Pettit said in the post. “This LED takeover of city lighting is worldwide.”

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Many major cities are switching to LED lights, as it offers “the potential for cutting general lighting energy use nearly in half by 2030, improving resiliency of the grid, and saving energy dollars in the process,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy. LED lights have “compact size, long life, resistance to breakage and vibration, good performance in cold temperatures, lack of infrared or ultraviolet emissions and instant-on performance.”

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