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Satellite Captures Burning Man From Space
MikeCapone writes "A European Space Agency satellite has captured what has become one of modern society's most hedonistic adventures: Burning Man. Taken about 400 miles up, the picture shows Black Rock City in full swing along with all of its 50,000-something attendees. ESA compiled the photograph using four photos, each with a resolution of about 16 feet. "
The ESA has a high resolution version of the image available.
There are easier ways to see pictures of naked hippies.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
It's the only way to be sure to get rid of those damn hippies - Eric Cartman
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
If you don't take the time to figure out what a Burning Man is, the headline by itself is quite perplexing and intriguing.
How is this man burning in space where there is no oxygen? And what does the satellite do with this man after capturing him?
Is anybody else a little shocked that that photograph is shot at 16ft (4.8m) resolution? I'm assuming they mean 1:16 or 1 pixel to 16 ft. That seems like the sort of resolution you might get from a stop end film spy satellite from the 1960's. I would have figured that we would be down to 1m or 0.3m (1ft) resolution by now.
Or are public images severely degraded to not give away the more obscure pros and cons of their imaging systems at actual resolution? The pictures of the moon landers seemed awfully crisp compared to this, although one was flying at 24km (presumably with a much smaller camera) vs a geopolar orbit at (searches wikipedia) 1000km. Also presumably with a much larger camera.
What's average resolution these days for satellite imagery? That seems awfully low.
moox. for a new generation.
for photographing the event? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/travel/detail?entry_id=96365
I have seen many subdivision layouts that looked just like this. Has Burning Man gone the way of Desperate Housewives?
I've got to admit, that had me concerned as well.
With such a satellite, the Europeans can count the number of hippies we have. Then they can generate more hippies than us!
Mr President, we cannot have a hippie gap!
http://www.geeked.info/burning-man-2011-geoeye-satellite-image/
I can't believe the 16ft resolution image is getting so much press, when the 0.5m resolution image is so much better, and was announced ahead of time (And scheduled, as you can see from people forming shapes in it).
often times it's just more convenient to use a UAV anways.
But not as cool. And that's one cool looking satellite. The Borg couldn't have designed it any better.
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You can see pretty much anything "from space". Find yourself a strong enough lens or a low enough orbit, and "I can see my house from here".
Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I can move my house from here.
-Archimedes
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
The headline was enough for me. Anyone who skydives from an altitude where they can burst into re-entry flames, and be caught by a satellite is just nuts!
Interestingly enough, the normal drag paradigm does not apply, however.
It is more accurate to look at it as if the air molecules wander over, attach to the satellite for a while, and then wander away. The key difference being that the side of the object facing orthogonal to the orbit "drags" almost as much as the front. So a cube is actually better than a cylinder or cone! (Not better than a sphere, though)
Weird stuff!
while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
Compare this to car racing. For a typical SCCA single-race weekend, you pay about $300 for your entry fee. That money buys you access to the facility ... approximately the same "fuckall" available at Burning Man. You bring your race car, food, water, fuel. You participate in the event - most events require one or more representatives from your team to volunteer as corner workers, timing & scoring, tech inspection, etc. At the end of the event, you pick up your stuff and leave. I have friends who thing racing is categorically insane for the reasons you mention - lots of work to drive around in circles for a weekend.
These events are explicitly transient (both BM and racing.) BM is not a permanent activity that would otherwise be sustainable. And if you don't see the significance and spirituality of the closing event at Burning Man, might I suggest that you just book a room in Vegas instead?
Oh, you're one of those. Go, have a bad time while never contributing anything, and then bitch about it for years even though your complaints have little relevance any more.