google sightseeing

It was only a matter of time after Google's aquisition of Keyhole: Google maps now features aerial photography. A new pasttime is born: Google Sightseeing is a blog of interesting places viewed from above via Google Maps (available on livejournal as google_sights). I went looking and was amused to find the LIGO/Hanford detector at Hanford Observatory. (Putting in "Livingston, LA" as the search, it's easy to find the much-more-tropical-looking LIGO/Livigston observatory too.) The LIGO observatories are each in the shape of an L, 4km on each arm. So they're easy to find.

Click the "Satellite" link to see some imagery instead of just the grey outline of Hanford Site. Zoom in a bit and you'll see the giant "L" of LIGO. (I also have a panorama taken from the ground, looking at the cornerstation of the L.)

Then poke around and find all the old nuclear reactors. Immediately to the southeast of LIGO is the Fast Flux Test Reactor. The large complex to the east is the Energy Northwest Boiling Water Reactor (impressive to see in real life—I have a postcard of it on my wall!). A little further to the North you can see the Manhattan Project plutonium-producing reactors. The satellite imagery is really not good enough to make out anything more than the blobular outlines of the complexes.

I made that URL by sticking in the latitude and longitude of LIGO. Could be done for a lot of other interesting sites.

Nearby: funny agriculture. Reminds me of the awesome book Earth From Above.

I'm waiting for the version that lets me fly a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) through the area of my choice. (-:

The Appalachian mountains are pretty.