Wed, Jan 21, 2009
Earth Imaging Satellite Spots Crowds From 423 Miles Above
At 11:19 am EST Tuesday, GeoEye-1, the world's highest
resolution commercial Earth-imaging satellite, collected an image
over the United States Capitol and the Inauguration of President
Barack Obama. The image, taken from 423 miles in space, is the
world's highest resolution, color satellite image of the Inaugural
celebration.
The image, taken through high, whispy white clouds over
Washington DC, shows the monuments along the National Mall and
masses of people between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial.
Among the many interesting features in the image are the clusters
of people gathered around large jumbotron screens.
The image was taken by GeoEye's newest satellite, GeoEye-1, as
it moved from north to south along the eastern seaboard of the
United States traveling at 17,000 mph or about four miles per
second.
GeoEye-1 is the world's highest resolution commercial Earth
imaging satellite. It is able to discern objects on the ground as
small as 0.41-meter or about 16 inches in size, which represents an
object about the size of home plate on a baseball diamond. However,
due to current U.S licensing restrictions the imagery is re-sampled
to half-meter ground resolution.
The satellite is currently in its final stages of check-out and
calibration. The 4,300-pound satellite was launched from Vandenberg
Air Force Base on September 6, 2008.
GeoEye is making the imagery available at no cost. It is
downloadable from the company's website, at the FMI link below.
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