3D Earth From Space with Atmosphere and City Lights

3D model of Earth as it could been seen from space with atmosphere and night city lights. Made inside of Autodesk Maya. I've used a planet creation technique from "3D Buzz — Maya Fundamentals" tutorial. Atmosphere and clouds are placed in different layers, so it's possible to create the effect of moving clouds. It's hard to tell by picture, but during the animation city lights isn't visible on the lit side of the planet and smoothly revealed as sun light fades. Rendered in mental ray. Used photo sources of Earth by  NASA for textures.