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I had always interpreted the meaning of the phrase to be "visible by the naked eye from someone in close orbit in space." Was that ever a good interpretation ev
by burntsushi 8y ago
I had always interpreted the meaning of the phrase to be "visible by the naked eye from someone in close orbit in space." Was that ever a good interpretation even though now it is perhaps not?
- tokai 8y agoI would think that most reasonable people would agree on that interpretation. The "which are easily visible on Google Earth" is laughable. The title is clearly click bait.
- enriquto 8y ago> I had always interpreted the meaning of the phrase to be "visible by the naked eye from someone in close orbit in space." These termite mounds are certainly not visible by the naked eye, even from a plane. I'd say that "visible from space" means visible by a current earth observation satellite, which is very far from the naked eye. The worldview satellites that take these images are huge telescopes pointing downwards.
- nurettin 8y agoFirst time I heard it was in a documentary back in the 80s and the phrase was referring to the great wall of china. With the allowed legal resolution being 0.25 meters and spy satellites certainly having better accuracy, the phrase will soon be obsolete and cease to amaze anyone.