“It can be seen from space.”
By Daniel Miessler on February 20th, 2008: Tagged as Humor | Science
People should stop saying this. It’s silly. Especially when referring to things like the wall of China or manmade islands in Dubai. On a clear day most everything can be seen from space.
Have these people seen Google Maps? Do they see the cars there? The people? Yeah, those were taken from space too. Hell, that’d be a good t-shirt: “I can be seen from space.”
It’s not the 1960’s people — the question isn’t how far you are, it’s what you’re using to look with.:
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When I see this phrase I understand the intent is actually “it can be seen from space with the naked eye.” As you said, it originated in the 60s, and the phrase still means what it originally meant - astronauts observing the planet through windows can see the object/structure/etc. The phrase is only ambiguous if you’re ignorant of its origin.
Comment by L — 2/20/2008 @ 4:08 am
Well, yeah, and that was my final point — the naked eye is the only real benchmark that makes any sense. The problem is that people are using it for more than that, which is why it no longer has any meaning.
Like this man-made island off Dubai for example, shown in the picture — that most likely can NOT be seen from space. I’m just guessing there. Not unless you’re maybe falling OUT of space and are heading toward that island off the coast of Dubai.
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 2/20/2008 @ 4:12 am
Nice t-shirt idea, but it robs us all of a good “yo mama” joke.
Comment by Tim F. — 2/20/2008 @ 1:41 pm
The Great Wall thing is actually a myth. http://www.snopes.com/science/greatwall.asp The Great Wall cannot be seen from space because it has the same tones as the earth, making it camouflage. I have seen this myth pushed out as fact in many educational books. Very sad.
Comment by Maxo — 2/20/2008 @ 2:13 pm