What is the only thing on earth that can be seen from space Tajmahal or your house or coral reefs?

Answer 1

People think it is The Great Wall of China.
In fact, it is The Great Barrier Reef.

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands, that stretch for 2,600 kilometres (1,616 mi) covering an area of approximately 344,400 km².

The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia. A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is sometimes referred to as the single largest organism in the world. In reality, it is made up of many millions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps.

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built between 5th century BC and the 17th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties.

The most recent set of fortifications dates from the Ming Dynasty, and its longest section stretches 6,352 km (3,948 miles) from Shanhai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. It is generally considered to be the longest man-made structure on earth.

But the idea it can be seen from space is a bit of an urban myth:

Richard Halliburton's 1938 book Second Book of Marvels said the Great Wall is the only man-made object visible from the moon, and a Ripley's Believe It or Not! cartoon from the same decade makes a similar claim. This belief has persisted, assuming urban legend status, sometimes even entering school textbooks.

Arthur Waldron, author of the most authoritative history of the Great Wall, has speculated that the belief might go back to the fascination with the "canals" once believed to exist on Mars. (The logic was simple: If people on Earth can see the Martians' canals, the Martians might be able to see the Great Wall.)

The Great Wall of China as seen in a false-color radar image from the Space Shuttle, taken in April 1994In fact, the Great Wall is only 30 feet tall and is about the same color as the soil surrounding it. It cannot be seen by the unaided eye from the distance of the moon, much less from Mars. If the Great Wall were visible from the moon, it would be easy to see from near-Earth orbit, but from near-Earth orbit it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other manmade objects.

Astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen it from Skylab but discovered he was actually looking at the Grand Canal of China near Beijing. He spotted the Great Wall with binoculars, but said that "it wasn't visible to the unaided eye." US Senator Jake Garn claimed to be able to see the Great Wall with the naked eye from a space shuttle orbit in the early 1980s, but his claim has been disputed by several US astronauts. Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei said he could not see it at all.

Veteran US astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 160 km to 320 km high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the naked eye." Ed Lu, Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the International Space Station, adds that, "it's less visible than a lot of other objects. And you have to know where to look."

Neil Armstrong stated about the view from Apollo 11: "I do not believe that, at least with my eyes, there would be any man-made object that I could see. I have not yet found somebody who has told me they've seen the Wall of China from Earth orbit. ... I've asked various people, particularly Shuttle guys, that have been many orbits around China in the daytime, and the ones I've talked to didn't see it."

Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the International Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, the state-run China Daily newspaper concluded that the Great Wall can be seen from space with the naked eye, under favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look.

These inconsistent results suggest the visibility of the Great Wall depends greatly on the seeing conditions, and also the direction of the light (oblique lighting widens the shadow). Features on the moon that are dramatically visible at times can be undetectable at other times due to changes in lighting direction; the same would be true of the Great Wall.

Based on the optics of resolving power (distance versus the width of the iris: a few millimetres for the human eye, metres for large telescopes) an object of reasonable contrast to its surroundings some four thousand miles in diameter (such as the Australian land mass) would be visible to the unaided eye from the moon. But the Great Wall is of course not a disc but more like a thread, and a thread a foot long would not be visible from a hundred yards away, even though a human head is.

Answer 2

As of today the Great wall of China is not the only thing that can be seen from space..... We can see the great coral reefs around the western coast of Australia too. The latest addition to this list is the modern wonder of the world Kanzai International airport, Japan. this is built on a man made island and is truly a modern day engineering marvel. These are the things that can be seen with a naked eye from space. Hope this answered your query.

Answer 3

If you claim to see any man-made object from the Space Shuttle and it's hundreds of feet in both directions then that's believable.

A well lit, square, 300 foot white roof seen from directly overhead on a black background looks like a speck from space (altitude 300km). This is with no shadow to help it. Figure from there.

So you can see malls. Very large buildings. They look like specks.
A small city, 2 miles wide, would look slightly larger than the moon.

A large city, like New York, you'd actually be seeing something, it could look as big as your fist or your hand at arm's distance.

You are really high up!

One more thing, you're moving. Everything below you is flying at 5 miles a second.

Picture watching heavy freeway traffic from afar, it's like that except the whole picture's moving.

If you *could* see tiny objects like your house then they'd be whizzing.

Answer 4

With the naked eye or with technology? With the naked eye it's the Great Barrier Reef. The Taj Mahal is nowhere near big enough to be seen from space with the naked eye.

Answer 5

I can see lot's of things in images taken in space, inlcuding reefs, homes and landmarks. Roads are easily visible too... unless Google Earth is fake and yet another conspiricy...

Answer 6

I assume you mean with the naked eye. Spy satellite cameras can see everything you named.

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Answer 7

I think it is a fallacy that you can see any man-made object with the naked eye from space. I once looked it up in snopes.com and it was just a myth.

Answer 8

The Great Wall of China is right.

Answer 9

isn't it true that you can also see the light shining from the top of the venetian's pyramid in las vegas. but yes the great wall of china... and that big dome from the truman show.

Answer 10

None...my ex wife's butt. That d**n thing had it's own weather system!