Weird image from Google Maps

[cmdawson]

Check out this image from Google Maps.<br />http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33409&ll=26.748587,-80.074303&spn=0.004753,0.005944&t=k&hl=en<br /><br />To me it looks like a satellite at a lower altitude, what do you think?<br />

 

[najab]

I guess they forgot to airbrush that one out. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Seriously, I've got no idea what that could be.

 

[vogon13]

There is some printing on the image below the 'blob'. Suspect a watermark or some such thing for copyright purposes. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[najab]

Nope, I don't think that's what it is - I haven't seen anything like it on any other Google image.

 

[Leovinus]

How about a hot-air balloon? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[najab]

I was thinking that at first, but there are other images with airliners that are less fuzzy than that.

 

[jatslo]

Wow! Those are cool maps. I am looking for some arial recon navigation maps to scan regions in Oregon where I want to go rock hounding, and prospecting.<br /><br />Thanx for the link!!!!

 

[yevaud]

Moisture or a small pit in the lens. If you notice, the blob is focussing some of the light from the buildings beneath it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

About the only satellite that resembles the picture is Echo. But it has been gone for ~40 years. Also, Echo was quite brilliant in visible light, bright enough to saturate pixels, which we don't see here. <br /><br />Where are ralphsilverman and dragonous when we need them?<br /><br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[cmdawson]

The pic in the link is a little clearer, I used the crappy Microsoft default photo editor to cut and paste.<br /><br />The reason I think it is something higher up from the ground is the color of the reflections. Blue reflection on the Northern side of the object, whiter on the southern side. The sun according to the shadows next the houses is shining from the southwestern side (maybe early afternoon.) But the blue reflection looks like it's the atmosphere reflecting back onto it.

 

[yevaud]

Yeah, but whatever it is, it isn't reflecting - it's lensing. Look at the blob carefully - you'll still see the shape of the houses in the upper right, coming right through.<br /><br />The whitish, lighter part to the left follows the contour of the structures below.<br /><br />Since it's very unlikely that there'd any moisture in the imaging apparatus (at 190 nautical miles up, or thereabouts), it's probably a small pit in the lens. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

If it were a lens defect, it would appear in every picture.<br /><br />No, this thing must be external to the camera -- note that it is sunlit on one side. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[yevaud]

As I've seen the one and only one picture, that'd be a bit hard for me to respond to, yes?<br /><br />Yes, certainly. But I think it's a pit on the lens itself. Whatever it is, it's reasonably transparent, not opaque. Otherwise, you couldn't see the outline of structures through it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

Close left eye. Hold index finger about 3 inches in front of right eye and focus on screen. Can you not achieve the same effect? Around the blurry outline of your finger, you can see "through" the finger edge to the screen beyond. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[yevaud]

Yes, but this is not the case here. Look at the right side of the blotch...you can see the continued outline of the houses on the ground, inside the blob. <br /><br />My God, I'm arguing about a fingerprint on a lens, on a Saturday afternoon... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[kmarinas86]

The clouds seem to be in focus, so I think the object, if it has a hard edge, must be something out of focus. Maybe it's a weird lenticular cloud? Doubt it. A hot air balloon? Actually, I think it's a piece of space junk, perhaps a ping pong ball, or something round that just happened to slowly pass by.<br /><br />http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=size+of+a+ping+pong+ball<br />http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=digitalglobe+altitude+km<br /><br />The official diameter of a ping pong ball is 4 centimeters. It appears to cover a section of the ground that is 100 m wide (2500 times wider). So I estimate that, if this is a ping pong ball sized object, its 450 km / 2500 away which is 180 meters.

 

[yevaud]

Well, it's nice and symmetrical, whatever it is. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[bobw]

I hear what you're saying about a nick in the lens but it seems too regular for that. Also, the edges of the image don't show through in the example of lensing shown in this picture. I have looked at some other google maps and never saw anything like that before. Maybe it is a square hole in the data filled in by smoothing algorithms. I don't know what it is.<br /><br />It sure is wierd cmdawson, thanks for the link. I have copies at several zoom levels <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[kmarinas86]

Notice that the object does not make a shadow. <br /><br />The white side is illuminated by the sun. It appears that the blue side is illuminated by the earth. Maybe someone should contact NORAD <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />.

 

[netdragon]

Could it be a water droplet on a camera lens?

 

[bowlofpetunias]

It could be a water droplet if the image is an aerial image which I think it is. It could be that or a camera artifact which is also possible, as the blob is repeated to the west. Third bar down and about 11 mouse clicks west on exactly the same level. There may be other repetitions to the North and South as well.<br />

 

[najab]

><i>It could be a water droplet if the image is an aerial image which I think it is.</i><p>According to Google, it is a satellite image.</p>

 

[nazcalito]

I would have said it was something on the lens because it is out of focus and this suggests that it is close to the camera lens. Beyond a certain distance, a camera lens is at infinity and thus everything is in the same focus. The blurring could also mean that the object was moving faster than the exposure time. It's amazing that the camera caught another satellite passing below it.

 

[najab]

I emailed Digital Globe and asked them. <br /><br /><font color="orange"><blockquote>Hello,<br /><br />Simple question, in this image from Google maps (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33409&ll=26.748587,-80.074303&spn=0.004753,0.005944&t=k&hl=en) there's a 'weird' object. Several users at Space.Com's forums have been trying to figure out what it is. The theories so far: weather balloon, satellite at a lower altitude, lens defect, water droplet and alien spacecraft that wasn't airbrushed out!<br /><br />What is it?<br /><br />Thanks in advance,<br /><br />Adrian Coward<br /></blockquote></font> don't know if the answer I got was 100% serious or not, but here it is:<font color="yellow"><blockquote><br />Adrian,<br /><br />We here at DigitalGlobe are just are baffled as you. Nearest we can figure is that QuickBird discovered a rip in the space-time continuum. <br /><br />Let me know if you guys come to any other conclusions!<br /><br />Best,<br />Brock<br /></blockquote></font>o, there you have it. It's an unqualified mystery.

 

[CalliArcale]

That is seriously weird. I have no clue what that might be!<br /><br />I like the not-entirely-serious answer from the Digital Globe folks. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>