E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Exactly 69 years ago, Hawaii's Pearl Harbor became famous for "a date which willl live in infamy": Japan's air attack on the island's U.S. naval installation on Dec. 7, 1941. The United States immediately entered World War II, opposing the Axis powers, and the rest is ... well, history. Today, the anniversary is being commemorated with ceremonies as well as images from that terrible time.
This image shows a far more peaceful scene: Ford Island, as seen by the Ikonos satellite in 2003 from an altitude of 423 miles. Labels indicate the locations of the USS Arizona Monument and the USS Utah Monument, and you can also make out the Battlefield Missouri, docked near the Arizona site. (The Missouri was still being built when Pearl Harbor happened.) As large as it is, this version of the image doesn't do justice to the satellite's camera resolution. You should take a look at the larger picture on the Satellite Imaging website. To see how U.S. ships were positioned on the day of the 1941 attack, check out this diagram of "Battleship Row." And don't miss this video clip from "NBC Nightly News."
The Pearl Harbor anniversary is a good reminder that the holiday season is a time to remember past sacrifices and struggles as well. It's a bittersweet offering for the Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar, which is highlighting views of Earth from space every day until Christmas. Here are some links to the previous images in the set, plus three other Advent calendars with space themes:
- From Day 1: The Cosmic Log Advent Calendar so far
- Door 2 for Dec. 2: 'Alien' lake seen from space
- Door 3 for Dec. 3: Egypt's river of light
- Door 4 for Dec. 4: Tallest building reaches for the sky
- Door 5 for Dec. 5: Russia's dazzling delta
- Door 6 for Dec. 6: Space skipper vs. the world
- The Big Picture at Boston.com: Hubble Advent calendar
- Planetary Society: Solar system Advent calendar
- Zooniverse Advent calendar
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter.
Leave a Comment:
Alan.
The resolution is indeed good on your link but that picture is the same one that is on Google Maps and, in my opinion, is not quite as good as the one on Google. Why? In the Google photo you can actually see the U.S.S. Arizona as she lies at rest with her crew... The other pic has had the water colored so you can't see the Arizona or the U.S.S. Utah either.. The first time I saw the U.S.S. Arizona on Google Maps I had chills go up my spine as viewing her made December 7, 1941 a bit more real to me...
This is my first comment on your blog and I thank you as I've gotton alot of "Food for Thought" from your post's!!
BTW... Pluto IS a Planet!!!!! ;-)
I think the Google Maps image was probably taken later, with a better satellite. This Ikonos image is actually pretty old as commercial satellite images go, but it was the one I could go with for the day. Thanks for the shout-out on Pluto ... it's important to remember this isn't just about Pluto, but about a whole class of dwarf planets. ... And welcome to the Cosmic Log community, I like you already. ;-)
Alan,
I just wanted to point out that the Missouri is a BattleSHIP not a Battlefield. I agree though she could be a battlefield taking into account of how big she is.
I was stunned when I clicked on "The Diagram Of Battleship Row" and the page displayed a picture of the Honolulu Star Bulletin, 1st Extra. I have the exact same newspaper, complete, in a plastic display frame on a wall in my home office. My father-in-law (1910-1988) obtained this and I found it while cleaning out my wife's family home on a lake just outside Geneseo, New York. During the war, he worked as a plating engineer at Rochester Products, a division of General Motors, where they built carburetors for B-17's. He tried several times to enlist, but was always prohibited since he worked in a plant critical to the war effort. He always said this was one of the biggest disappointments of his life. Where he got the paper I will never know as he was no longer alive to answer the question.