Comments on: And if you look to your left

And if you look to your left

Mwongozi — Fri, 14 May 2004 10:26:01 -0800

The Great Wall of China can be seen from space after all.

By: dogwelder

dogwelder — Fri, 14 May 2004 10:29:56 -0800

The issue wan't whether the Great Wall could be seen from space- it was whether the Great Wall was the only man-made object visible from space.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Fri, 14 May 2004 11:06:53 -0800

No. Until recent advances in satellite photography, no man-made structures could be seen from space. Including the Great Wall. The idea that it could was a myth.

By: NewBornHippy

NewBornHippy — Fri, 14 May 2004 11:07:50 -0800

I guess it depends on the quality of the optics being used. Lensfilter!

By: krunk

krunk — Fri, 14 May 2004 12:13:14 -0800

I thought the question was whether or not it could be seen with the naked eye.

By: skallas

skallas — Fri, 14 May 2004 12:19:18 -0800

No, the question was that it could be seen with the naked eye from space. It can't. Cecil Adams on the Wall from Space/Moon arguments.

By: silusGROK

silusGROK — Fri, 14 May 2004 13:43:36 -0800

Forget that... what I want to know is where can _I_ get a .INT domain!

By: carter

carter — Fri, 14 May 2004 14:18:29 -0800

I always thought that sections of the 48th parallel between Canada and the US were visible from space, as differing agricultural policies in each country led to different crops (of different colours) being planted on either side.

By: sleslie

sleslie — Fri, 14 May 2004 15:34:41 -0800

"What's Really Visible from Space" [space.com] says that "... the pyramids ... are a little difficult to pick out with your eyes." So, unless Ed Lu has a reason to lie about this, it looks like you can see man made objects from space. Speaking of pyramids, isn't the Luxor (and the rest of the Vegas Strip) visible from space?

By: badstone

badstone — Fri, 14 May 2004 17:17:23 -0800

so can my backyard if the right satellite is looking.

By: kozad

kozad — Fri, 14 May 2004 18:07:46 -0800

I can see space from my backyard with my naked eye if the conditions are right. Doesn't that count for anything?

By: sfenders

sfenders — Fri, 14 May 2004 21:22:03 -0800

No, the question was that it could be seen with the naked eye from space. It can't. skallas, the Cecil Adams page you link to says the opposite - that you can see many things from earth orbit. Presumably that would include the Great Wall. I expect you'd at least be able to see Manhattan. Not from the moon, though.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Fri, 14 May 2004 22:53:13 -0800

I find it hilarious that even today, in this thread, people can't agree on what the myth was. The facts are pretty clear, though. Prior discussions in e.g. alt.folklore.urban have had similar problems nailing down the ground rules, often with people reasoning back from the facts to get a myth that fit them -- or didn't, as appropriate. Virtually everyone agrees with Astronaut Lu, in that structures such as the Great Wall are indeed visible as high up as the altitude of the International Space Station. From this you get the derivative myth that perhaps it was meant that the Great Wall was the only structure seen from that height, or the alternative interpretation that what was really meant was from the distance of the Moon. It's silly, though -- clearly nothing human-made would be visible from the Moon. The only interpretation is that the myth is wrong, and always has been, and there's no nailing down what precise misinformation was meant because there are so many possible variants of bad information. Clearly the version vectored by the authors of Trivial Pursuit has perhaps the widest currency and can be considered canonical, but it wasn't the first or only. Forget that... what I want to know is where can _I_ get a .INT domain! .int domain policies: Basically, you have to be an administrative body established by international treaty.