20 August 2004

The Olympics from space

NASA has produced a spectacular movie of the Olympic Stadium at Athens, Greece, as viewed by a virtual spacecraft arriving at Earth from space.

The movie begins with a view of our galaxy. The camera then rapidly moves in to capture an image of our planet.

Suddenly the Mediterranean Sea comes into view, with the characteristic outline of Greece clearly visible. The camera then quickly flies directly down to the Olympic Stadium.

Images in the virtual flight to the Olympic Stadium are from NASA (Hubble Space Telescope), NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (various planetary probes), Department of Defense (Clementine), NASA (MODIS), United States Geological Survey (Landsat), Space Imaging Inc. (IKONOS) and the European Space Agency (Hipparchos).

This novel view of the Olympic Stadium is well worth a visit. The Olympic Stadium page is here. A high-speed link is best.

Forrest M. Mims III