Bird’s eye view on Earth

Fascination to geography has led me to a very amazing program called Google Earth, which I know everyone has seen. It’s so great because you can point at a city and have a top view of it. Thanks to the numerous satellites circling the Earth (which I thought was science fiction as recent as the premier of the movie Enemy of the State), I can now glimpse at the houses of my relatives who happen to be on the other side of the world.

Though the pictures are pretty new (Google claims that these photos have been taken as early as three years ago), they are not captured in real time, so I don’t expect to see my dad’s SUV parked along Colfax St. But even then, the picture has high resolution.

And there are other places too! The cracks made by the Mount Saint Helens explosion and the crevices of the Grand Canyon can be seen… and toured with the program’s enhanced features.

Other continents are also seen. Many cities in Europe are visible, but most of the world is still blurry. Thus, I’m really excited to see all of the regions of the world in high resolution.

Seeing the Earth rotating on screen brought me back to the scene in Apollo XIII where the two astronauts being commanded by Jim Lovell first saw the Earth. It’s a really good view. I just hope I can go to outer space for real.

As long as that is just a dream, the Google Earth can suffice…

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