Ever since I was a child, I have heard that the Great Wall is the only man made object can be seen from the moon. As a naive child, I believed it and continued to believe it well into my adulthood. I guess it was one of those myth that no one seems to be bothered to analyze whether it is scientifically possible.
Well! My own experience is not exactly scientific. The following photos were taken from the SQ flight soon after take off in a bright clear sunny morning. (It does not happen often in Beijing).
The first photo below is the actual photo that I did not crop or enlarge it. As you can see, it was already very hard to see the Great Wall within 90 seconds after the plane took off.
In subsequent photos, you will see the plane flew directly above the Great Wall within 3 min after taking off. The Wall was already hard to see. I enlarged a few photos showing a stretch of the wall near the lake.
The plane was only about half way to cruising altitude and the Wall was already hard to spot.
Ok! F all of you science geeks and experts out there, please don't flame me for my eyeball observation to dispel the myth of noon can be seen from outer space.
For more information about the Great Wall is impossible to be seen from the moon, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China
