Blackout Photo Hoax

This photo started making the rounds in late August 2003, purporting to be a satellite image of the August 14 blackout.

blackout hoax

However, the area of the 'blackout' in the northeast is far too black to be real. If it were real, there would still be significant patches of light remaining. Also the unlit land mass would probably be bluer in color.

To compare, check out these real satellite pictures of the blackout taken by a NOAA satellite.

This is a NOAA image taken 20 hours before the blackout:
before blackout

And this is a NOAA image taken 7 hours after the blackout. Note that the blackout zone is not completely dark. The lights are just significantly reduced.
after blackout

Finally, here we have, from a reliable source, a satellite photo of the Real East Coast Blackout of 2003:
real black out