8 ms·

What does visible from space mean?

mhb 7y ago
> 10cm
seren 7y ago
Google map link : https://www.google.com/maps/place/%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%B7%D8%A9+%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86+%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A9+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A9%E2%80%AD/@24.4202124,32.7157651,7769m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x14363fd9d7a4b311:0xfd82d50b893da021!8m2!3d24.449192!4d32.7170983 https://www.google.com/maps/place/%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%B7%D8%A9+%... Actually if you zoom out enough, it disappears...
- srbby 7y ago
  That's cool... it is as if it was just crudely patched in there by the maps team
- kache_ 7y ago
  Wonder how they deal with dust
  - _Microft 7y ago
    > To combat the latter [i.e. dust], employees will clean all the panels at Benban once or twice a month by passing by in specialized tractors equipped with brushes
- ErneX 7y ago
  Different photos/dates at different zoom levels/positions
- baud147258 7y ago
  it's appearing/disappearing suddenly between two levels of zoom, there must a switch of images library that were taken before/after the start of the construction.
  - simias 7y ago
    If you look at the copyrights at the bottom of the page that's exactly what's happening. It switches from "Maxar technologies/CNES/Airbus" to "Landsat".
- gruturo 7y ago
  This is actually a somewhat normal occurrence and you encounter it frequently enough. Different zoom levels sometimes correspond to different sources of imagery, sometimes months or years apart. My home still disappears at certain zoom levels, and I see the construction site instead - it was built in 2016.
  - Faark 7y ago
    I understand new high resolution data not being available for all areas. But generally I would have expected them to default to either the newer or a downscaled higher resolution source. The zoomed-out levels also have a ©2019 and not showing any signs of solar, while first modules went online spring 2018 [0]. Probably no big deal for google maps, but there might not have gone everything as intended, either. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benban_Solar_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benban_Solar_Park
- mattlondon 7y ago
  What is really amazing (to me at least) is how small the site looks when you zoom out a bit. Lots of land there... Seems ideal for further development and exporting energy?
  - est31 7y ago
    > Seems ideal for further development and exporting energy? Seems so, yes! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertec
- bryanlarsen 7y ago
  "visible from space" to me means visible with a naked eye to an astronaut orbiting earth. This seems like it will likely meet that definition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_structures_visible_from_space https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_structures_visible_...
Dylan16807 7y ago
Something 100-200 meters across is visible as a spec from low orbit. A square kilometer is reasonably easy to see. There's an estimate on wikipedia that to read text from the ISS the letters would need to be 2km tall. This solar park is 37 square kilometers in almost a square. Well over all those thresholds.
- kmm 7y ago
  I always forget how close space is. The ISS is only 400 km up, they actually only see 3% of the Earth's surface.
  - schoen 7y ago
    > Space is about 100 kilometers away. That's far away—I wouldn't want to climb a ladder to get there—but it isn't that far away. If you're in Sacramento, Seattle, Canberra, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Phnom Penh, Cairo, Beijing, central Japan, central Sri Lanka, or Portland, space is closer than the sea. https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/
    - Dylan16807 7y ago
      It's important to note that "barely space, by consensus" and "able to orbit properly" are significantly different heights. 100km is where there's barely too little air to keep a plane up, and you have to be moving at orbital speeds. But you still need a lot of constant thrust to stay up there. Even at 200km, your average object will fall out of orbit in a day. At 300km you're reasonably stable, with about a month of orbit life if you don't boost. At 400km you find the ISS, where orbit life is somewhere around a year. There are a lot of milestones between 50km and 600km where you could pick any one and make a reasonable argument that it's the edge of space.

mhb 7y ago

> 10cm

Google map link : https://www.google.com/maps/place/%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%B7%D8%A9+%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86+%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A9+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A9%E2%80%AD/@24.4202124,32.7157651,7769m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x14363fd9d7a4b311:0xfd82d50b893da021!8m2!3d24.449192!4d32.7170983 https://www.google.com/maps/place/%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%B7%D8%A9+%... Actually if you zoom out enough, it disappears...

srbby 7y ago
That's cool... it is as if it was just crudely patched in there by the maps team
kache_ 7y ago
Wonder how they deal with dust
- _Microft 7y ago
  > To combat the latter [i.e. dust], employees will clean all the panels at Benban once or twice a month by passing by in specialized tractors equipped with brushes
ErneX 7y ago
Different photos/dates at different zoom levels/positions
baud147258 7y ago
it's appearing/disappearing suddenly between two levels of zoom, there must a switch of images library that were taken before/after the start of the construction.
- simias 7y ago
  If you look at the copyrights at the bottom of the page that's exactly what's happening. It switches from "Maxar technologies/CNES/Airbus" to "Landsat".
gruturo 7y ago
This is actually a somewhat normal occurrence and you encounter it frequently enough. Different zoom levels sometimes correspond to different sources of imagery, sometimes months or years apart. My home still disappears at certain zoom levels, and I see the construction site instead - it was built in 2016.
- Faark 7y ago
  I understand new high resolution data not being available for all areas. But generally I would have expected them to default to either the newer or a downscaled higher resolution source. The zoomed-out levels also have a ©2019 and not showing any signs of solar, while first modules went online spring 2018 [0]. Probably no big deal for google maps, but there might not have gone everything as intended, either. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benban_Solar_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benban_Solar_Park
mattlondon 7y ago
What is really amazing (to me at least) is how small the site looks when you zoom out a bit. Lots of land there... Seems ideal for further development and exporting energy?
- est31 7y ago
  > Seems ideal for further development and exporting energy? Seems so, yes! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertec
bryanlarsen 7y ago
"visible from space" to me means visible with a naked eye to an astronaut orbiting earth. This seems like it will likely meet that definition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_structures_visible_from_space https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_structures_visible_...

Dylan16807 7y ago

Something 100-200 meters across is visible as a spec from low orbit. A square kilometer is reasonably easy to see. There's an estimate on wikipedia that to read text from the ISS the letters would need to be 2km tall. This solar park is 37 square kilometers in almost a square. Well over all those thresholds.

kmm 7y ago
I always forget how close space is. The ISS is only 400 km up, they actually only see 3% of the Earth's surface.
- schoen 7y ago
  > Space is about 100 kilometers away. That's far away—I wouldn't want to climb a ladder to get there—but it isn't that far away. If you're in Sacramento, Seattle, Canberra, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Phnom Penh, Cairo, Beijing, central Japan, central Sri Lanka, or Portland, space is closer than the sea. https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/
  - Dylan16807 7y ago
    It's important to note that "barely space, by consensus" and "able to orbit properly" are significantly different heights. 100km is where there's barely too little air to keep a plane up, and you have to be moving at orbital speeds. But you still need a lot of constant thrust to stay up there. Even at 200km, your average object will fall out of orbit in a day. At 300km you're reasonably stable, with about a month of orbit life if you don't boost. At 400km you find the ISS, where orbit life is somewhere around a year. There are a lot of milestones between 50km and 600km where you could pick any one and make a reasonable argument that it's the edge of space.