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In honor of this year's Golden Globe nominees, here's a picture of the landmark Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, as seen by the GeoEye 1 satellite from a height of 425 miles (684 kilometers).
The sign, which spells out the name of the cinema world's most famous locale in 45-foot-high (14-meter-high) letters, was originally created as an advertisement in 1923 and is now protected and promoted by the Hollywood Sign Trust.
Some folks used to say that China's Great Wall was the only human-made landmark visible from outer space, but even if that was ever true, the rise of high-resolution satellite imagery has made that claim as obsolete as the silent movies. Come to think of it, far more obsolete: After all, the film with the most Golden Globe nominations this year is a new-wave silent movie titled "The Artist."
This view of Tinseltown's trademark serves as today's offering from the Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar, which features views of Earth from space every day from now until Christmas. Check back on Friday for the next visual treat, and catch up on these previous calendar entries:
- The full Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar
- Dec. 1: An ornament in outer space
- Dec. 2: The masses in Mecca
- Dec. 3: Santa's shrinking domain
- Dec. 4: The monster of Madagascar
- Dec. 5: Antarctica stripped naked
- Dec. 6: Streaking for home
- Dec. 7: Pearl Harbor from above, 1941-2011
- Dec. 8: The rise and fall of the Dead Sea
- Dec. 9: How an eclipse dims Earth
- Dec. 10: Psychedelic storm
- Dec. 11: Beauty of the Inland Sea
- Dec. 12: Drone-spotting stirs up debate
- Dec. 13: Light up your St. Lucy's Day
- Dec. 14: Satellite spots Chinese aircraft carrier
- Hubble calendar, from The Atlantic's In Focus
- 2011 Zooniverse Advent calendar
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Did the Hollywood sign trust pay for this advertising??
I appreciate Very Much your curtsy to Christmas tradition at the end of the story. But the title should reflect the season you are cashing in on, it is not in good English, the Holiday Season, It is legally and traditionally the Christmas Season despite the fact that England went Protestant in the 1520's and masses were replaced by Communion services five centuries ago. It is the people's voice from generations past that this be the Christmas season. If anyone doesn't want to celebrate it wonderful but don't take the liberty of changing the name of the people's special day, It's the Christmas Season, and if it isn't for you the Christmas Season then it isn't the holiday season either. Call a thing by its' name if you want to be both correct and not offend.
Well, I do refer to Advent and Christmas, but I note more holidays than just Christmas in the course of this calendar, including Eid (which was actually some time ago) and Hanukkah (I have a nice picture lined up for the start of Hanukkah on Tuesday).
This is an absolutely incredible picture! Imagine, 425 miles up, and you can make out individual trees in the picture. Absolutely mind-blowing!!!