According to NASA, the technique is more sensitive to light originating from our planet than previous sensors due to the way it analyzes images. The filter scans photos multiple times in order to detect the amount of light in individual pixels, boosting and dimming different parts of the image as necessary. It’s not the first time NASA has used the day-night band to achieve some great results either — the organization also employed it to capture Hurricane Sandy back in October before it hit the east coast of the United States.