Dec 17, 2014 03:56 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

When setting up Christmas lights this holiday season one might say, perhaps sarcastically, "they'll be able to see these in space."

A group of NASA scientists know that to be a reality.

According to CBS News, NASA scientists noticed some of the nation's biggest cities shining significantly brighter this holiday season when reviewing data from the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite.

"What is happening during the holidays is that our patterns are changing," Miguel Román, a research scientist at NASA Goddard, said at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. "We are becoming this weird species. We are eating more turkey and we are going out to Macy's and buying stuff. We are changing our patterns of behavior.

"What's really interesting about the United States is that pattern and behavior is effecting location and demand for energy services," he said. "What does that mean? If you look at city of Atlanta ... it's creating this donut hole where you have this lighting output increase in predominantly residential regions. People are leaving work for the holiday and turning on the lights. People are demanding more energy services."

The product of the research is "Earth at Night." U.S. major cities shone brighter than normal by about 20 to 30 percent while suburbs and outskirts were brighter by about 30 to 50 percent.

"It's a near ubiquitous signal. Despite being ethnically and religiously diverse, we found that the U.S. experiences a holiday increase that is present across most urban communities," Román said in a press release. "These lighting patterns are tracking a national shared tradition."

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