/data/photo/2022/07/18/62d5407e9ce0f.png "What Man-made Structures Can Be Seen From Space? page all")
KOMPAS.com- There is a curious question that many people might think, is it possible to see a man-made structure from outside the atmosphere Earth or from outer space?.
To answer that question, we first need to define where Earth’s atmosphere ends and outer space started.
The Kármán line is widely considered to be the boundary between Earth and space. Usually it is defined as 100 kilometers above the surface of our planet.
So what can be seen from such a distance?
Quoted from Live ScienceMonday (7/18/2022) The Bingham Gorge Mine, located about 32 km southeast of Salt Lake City, is the largest man-made pit ever and the deepest open pit mine in the world.
According to the Universities Space Research Association, the mine is so large that it is not only visible from the Karman line without the need for tools, but is also reported to be visible to astronauts aboard the space shuttle. NASA orbiting at an altitude between 305-531 km above sea level.
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Besides that, man-made structures seen from space like the Three Gorges dam. The dam stretches across the Yangtze River in China, and according to NASA it can also be seen from outside Earth’s atmosphere.
The dam is the world’s largest electricity-generating facility and is considered the most expensive hydroelectric power station ever built.
It is 185 meters high and more than 2 kilometers long.
Palm Jumeirah Dubai can also be seen from the Kármán line. Using an 800mm lens, the artificial islands can be clearly seen from the station Outer space International (ISS), which orbits at an average altitude of about 400 km above sea level.
Meanwhile there is a slight difference of opinion among the astronauts about whether The Giza Pyramid can be seen with the naked eye from space or not.
British astronaut Tim Peake said that the pyramids could not be seen. However, he admits that the massive structure can be seen from space relatively clearly through an 800mm lens.
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However, Leroy Chiao, a former NASA astronaut and ISS commander, insists he saw the pyramids while in orbit.
“There is a lot that can be seen from the ISS even with the naked eye. For example I have seen the pyramids using telephoto. I can see the two largest with the naked eye as two small dots as long as the lighting and weather conditions are good,” said Chiao.
Then how about The great Wall of China what is often said to be visible from outer space?
Apparently the Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space with the naked eye and certainly not visible from orbiting spacecraft.
Chiao himself admitted that he could not see the wall when he took photos of the Great Wall of China from space.
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He also noted that various cities were visible from space. This was also approved by former NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson, who spent 152 days living on the ISS in 2007.
“We can see the city as a gray blob just by looking through the window,” Anderson said.
“One of my favorite cities, Omaha, Nebraska, first appears as a large gray blob, and its sister city Lincoln, which is much smaller, appears as a not-so-big gray blob,” he said.
Anderson added that he could also clearly see areas behind some of the dams where water had accumulated, but it would be very difficult to confirm that I was actually seeing the dams themselves.
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