The Bakken development is big enough to see from space. New photos from NASA show just how big the North Dakota oil boom really is. The play rivals metropolitan areas when it comes to visibility from space.

The photos were taken by the Suomi NPP Satellite in April of 2012. You can watch a video showing city lights around the world at nasa.gov

At the time the photos were taken, there were more than 210 rigs running in North Dakota and approximately 20 running in Eastern Montana.