Weirdest things you can find on Google Earth

The service compiles images from various sources, from satellites in geosynchronous orbit that snap low-resolution photos from tens of thousands of miles above Earth, to satellites closer to Earth that capture higher-resolution shots, and even aerial photos taken from airplanes, kites, drones and even balloons

There are many, many weird things seen on Google Earth. The service compiles images from various sources, from satellites in geosynchronous orbit that snap low-resolution photos from tens of thousands of miles above Earth, to satellites closer to Earth that capture higher-resolution shots, and even aerial photos taken from airplanes, kites, drones and even balloons. The imagery is available to anyone who downloads the software, and archaeologists have taken advantage of this rich resource. Here’s a look at some of the strangest

Swastika design

Kazakhstan

Scientists discovered more than 50 geoglyphs across northern Kazakhstan in Central Asia, including this swastika-shaped design. Though the swastika symbol was created from timber, many of the geoglyphs were made of earthen mounds. The geoglyphs seem to date back 2,000 years. At the time, swastikas were not uncommon across Europe and Asia and were not of course affiliated with any political beliefs.

Island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island

Philippines

This Google Earth image is an eye-full and a mouthful, as it’s an island-in-a-lake-on-an-island-in-a-lake-on-an-island. Yes, Google Earth captured this image showing a tiny island that resides inside a crater lake on an island called Volcano Island in a lake called Taal lake on the Philippine island of Luzon. For years apparently, this phenomenon was thought to be the largest of its kind spied by Google Earth. However, it turns out that accolade goes to a 4-acre spit of land in northern Canada where no human has likely stepped foot.

Wheel structures

Azraq Oasis, Jordan

Google Earth has spied some old artistry etched into the surface of the planet, including wheel-shaped geometric structures that may date back some 8,500 years, making them older than Peru’s geoglyphs called Nazca Lines. Some of these spoked designs that dot Jordan’s Azraq Oasis seem to be positioned in a way that aligns with sunrise on the winter solstice. A team of scientists have been investigating wheel structures with satellite imagery available through Google Earth. The wheels vary in their design, with some showing spokes that radiate from the center, others with just one or two bars rather than spokes and still others not circular at all and instead shaped like squares, rectangles or triangles, the researchers have found.

Phantom Sandy Island

New Caledonia

In 2012, a group of Australian researchers ‘undiscovered’ an island the size of Manhattan in the South Pacific. A mysterious place called Sandy Island had popped up on maps, northwest of New Caledonia. It even showed up as a black polygon on Google Earth. But when scientists sailed there in November 2012, they found open water instead of solid ground. In an obituary for the island published in April 2013, the researchers explained why the phantom landmass had been included on some maps for more than a century, pointing to some human errors and a possible pumice raft.

Pentagram

Kazakhstan

On the wind-blown steppes of Central Asia, in an isolated corner of Kazakhstan, there’s a largepentagram, measuring roughly 1,200 feet in diameter, etched into Earth’s surface. The five-pointed star surrounded by a circle, located on the southern shore of the Upper Tobol Reservoir, shows up vividly on Google Maps, the online version of the more detailed Google Earth. Many online comments linked the site with devil worship, nefarious religious sects or denizens of the underworld. Instead, the pentagram turns out to be the outline of a park made
in the form of a star; the star is marked by roadways that are now lined with trees, making the star shape even more distinct in aerial photos.

Mysterious patterns

Gobi Desert

Newfound Google Earth images have revealed an array of mysterious structures and patterns etched into the surface of China’s Gobi Desert. According to experts, this is a secret military base, and the structures are used for a variety of purposes including weapons testing, spy satellite calibration and testing of radar instrumentation. The most elaborate feature, an intricate grid of perfectly straight lines that weave back and forth every few hundred feet for 33 kilometres, is most likely a Yagi antenna array, a device used for weather tracking and other
atmospheric research.

Triangle UFO

Australia

In Australia, at coordinates 30°30’38.44″S 115°22’56.03″E, a strange triangle dotted with bright lights appeared in the middle of a field. When first discovered in 2007, ufologists were quick to call it a ‘triangle UFO’ caught in the act of hovering above Earth. Other Google Earth users said it may be an antenna associated with a nearby remote-controlled wind farm. With three sets of wires forming a triangle, and a tower in the middle, the antenna likely received and transmitted control signals.

KFC advertising

Chile hillside

Considering the number of people who troll Google Earth in their free time, it isn’t surprising that enormous advertisements have started popping up in remote areas for their viewing pleasure — a concept known as mapvertising. The world’s largest Coca-Cola logo, for example, can be seen at 18.5292 S, 70.2500 W on a hillside in Chile; it is said to be made of 70,000 empty Coca Cola bottles. A 87,500-square-foot picture of Colonel Sanders — the KFC logo — once appeared at 37.646163° N, 115.750819° W just off Extraterrestrial Highway in Nevada, but has since been removed.

Meanwhile,  Outside Sadr City in Iraq, at coordinates 33.396157° N, 44.486926° E, lies a blood-red lake. There is, as yet, no official explanation for the color of this strange body of water. Interestingly, a ‘wheel’ in the Middle East looks like a bull’s-eye, with three triangles pointing toward the eye and small piles of stones leading from the triangles toward the bull’s-eye
wheel.

Triangle UFO