Can you see the Great Wall from space?
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The Great Wall of China is thousands of kilometers long, so astronauts should spot it easily... right? Not from the Moon, and even from low Earth orbit it's almost impossible to see with your eyes: the wall is only a few meters wide and about the same color as the land around it. China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, said he didn't see it during his 2003 flight. Astronauts have photographed it with a zoom lens in the right light, but city lights at night are much easier to spot.
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Transcript
- Sef The Great Wall of China is so long, you can see it from space!
- Tiggy Not from the Moon.
- Tiggy From orbit, it's almost impossible to see with just your eyes.
- Tiggy China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, said he didn't see it.
- Sef But it's so long!
- Tiggy Long, but only a few meters wide.
- Tiggy And about the same color as the land around it.
- Tiggy City lights at night are much easier to spot.
Sources
- NASA: China's Wall Less Great in View from Space (2005) nasa.gov
- NASA: Great Wall, photographed from the ISS nasa.gov
- Scientific American: Is China's Great Wall Visible from Space? scientificamerican.com
- Al Jazeera (2003): China's spaceman shatters a myth aljazeera.com
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