# Anybody have any idea what this thing might be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 28, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126 "2010-11-28T01:15:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/1 "2010-11-28T01:15:31Z")
https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode&q&sll=32.68932,-117.181292&sspn=0.005536,0.008256&gl=us&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=32.764109,-113.089914&spn=0.047275,0.077162&z=14 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/2 "2010-11-28T01:21:29Z")
It’s on a Federal Reserve, of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![FrancisCastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b4bc9f/32.png) [@FrancisCastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrancisCastle)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/3 "2010-11-28T01:26:42Z")
Luke AF Range. So maybe it’s some kind of takeoff/landing area? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/4 "2010-11-28T01:35:42Z")
What is the “goo.gl” domain? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/5 "2010-11-28T01:38:35Z")
Crop circle? Ancient tribal attempt to comune with the sky gods? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/6 "2010-11-28T01:47:50Z")
It’s pretty clearly an alien landing site. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/7 "2010-11-28T01:52:46Z")
It’s a picture of the ground. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/8 "2010-11-28T01:53:20Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > What is the “goo.gl” domain? A URL shortening service, run by yer actual Google I believe. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/9 "2010-11-28T01:58:06Z")
What is it? Its fucked that what it is, do you see the big black Mechwarrior thing coming at them from the right? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/10 "2010-11-28T01:59:11Z")
The Painted Rocks Indian Petrogylphs site is in the area. As is a bombing range. As are several copper mines. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/11 "2010-11-28T02:17:44Z")
There is a similar, but smaller, pattern of concentric rings about 7 miles to the west, on a patch of white, [here](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=&sll=32.68932,-117.181292&sspn=0.005536,0.008256&gl=us&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=32.75321,-113.206558&spn=0.207602,0.308647&z=12). (And some more rings but not quite so perfectly round, and with structures in the middle, [about 7 miles SW of that](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=&sll=32.68932,-117.181292&sspn=0.005536,0.008256&gl=us&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=32.691363,-113.296423&spn=0.025968,0.038581&z=15).) I checked this out on Google Earth (it is just outside Gila Bend AZ), but the Google Earth community, that is usually all over this sort of thing, does not seem to know either, except that they assume that it is military. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/12 "2010-11-28T02:30:20Z")
According to the topographic map, it’s part of Luke Air Force Base. Luke AFB’s web site says that: [QUOTE=Luke AFB] Luke Air Force Base is the largest and only active-duty F-16 training base in the world with more than 160 F-16s assigned. … An integral part of Luke’s F-16 fighter pilot training mission is the Barry M. Goldwater Range. The range consists of 1.8 million acres of relatively undisturbed Sonoran Desert southwest of Luke Air Force Base between Yuma and Tucson south of Interstate 8. Overhead are 57,000 cubic miles of airspace where pilots practice air-to-air maneuvers and engage simulated battlefield targets on the ground [/QUOTE] I’m guessing that’s one of those “simulated battlefield targets.” ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-idea-what-this-thing-might-be/562126/13 "2010-11-28T02:47:50Z")
It’s the beginner / remedial bombing range. for the beginners, there is a giant bulls eye. for the remedial pilots there is that giant arrow pointing to the bulls eye.