# Google Earth Twofer - Green Circles and Area 51 (?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157 "2005-08-29T21:09:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/21 "2005-08-30T03:17:46Z")
> [@Scruloose](#): > > How long are standard military runways? Because that runway is just over [2.25 miles long.](http://www.sueandpaul.com/gmapPedometer/?centerX=-116.77582740783691¢erY=37.79927256745822&zl=3&fl=s-e-h-0-1&polyline=_pxeFjhygUf%7BDicB) That’s not out of line for a field at fairly high altitude and in hot country. If you want to get heavily loaded jets off the ground at altitude when the runway temperature is 140 F you need a lot of runway. That is you needed it at the time the field was built. Today’s jets in afterburner do a lot better. The runways at the Naval Air station here (elev about 2300 ft., summer temeratures 115 F) are 12500 ft long. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/22 "2005-08-30T08:02:49Z")
RAF Brize Norton has a runway over 3km, and there’s no unusual altitude or climate conditions to deal with. As a runway being used for test flights of experimental aircraft, I’m not surprised they’ve got a long landing strip! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/23 "2005-08-30T11:54:01Z")
Don’t UFOs take off vertically anyway? IOW, what is the relevance of the presence/absence and/or length of a runway at area 51? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/24 "2005-08-30T12:08:03Z")
That was the earlier models. The Little Green Men have been working on the LTOL project (long take-off and landing) for some time now. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/25 "2005-08-30T12:59:01Z")
OK - thanks. For some reason I thought runways would be much smaller, but I guess that one isn’t outside the norm. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/26 "2005-08-30T15:12:05Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > Years ago when I worked in northern Montana in the late eighties my boss and I drove to a out of the way town called Turner. On the dirt road there was an odd two mile stretch that was paved and completely straight. Our assumption was that some county comissioner got a kickbak but we wondered if there was a Soviet analyst sitting in a room trying to figure out what bombers were stationed there that could make use of such a narrow runway. In the early days of paved highways, local groups would fund “seedling miles” with donated material and labor, with idea that once people got a taste of paved road, they’d demand that all their roads be paved. Maybe that’s what you’re seeing. As for the dark circles on the ground mentioned earlier in the thread - flying saucers are circular and would require a circular landing pad. Coincidence? I think not. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/27 "2005-08-31T01:46:42Z")
> [@Soylent Gene](#): > > The fence will cast a shadow. On Google maps or Google Earth, check out the compound at 37 53’ 01"N, 116 45’ 58"W Click the “Airport/Transportation” overlay on the left. The airstrip and the dry lake bed are part of the [Tonopah Test Range](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonopah_Test_Range). ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Gene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Soylent\_Gene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Gene)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/28 "2005-08-31T02:15:35Z")
> [@av8rmike](#): > > Click the “Airport/Transportation” overlay on the left. The airstrip and the dry lake bed are part of the [Tonopah Test Range](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonopah_Test_Range). thanks, I thought I might be Area 51. That dry lake bed looks very strange. Must have some kind of target etched into it. On closer scrutiny, two of the mysterious things at Mancamp are ball fields. Mancamp looks like a bleak place to reside…Needs a ladies touch. 37 53’ 01"N, 116 45’ 58"W ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/29 "2005-08-31T04:30:48Z")
I’m fairly certain that the coordinates I gave are indeed accurate for Area 51 - based on photos in the Wikipedia entry and elsewhere, it’s a match. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Gene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Soylent\_Gene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Gene)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157/30 "2005-08-31T06:37:00Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > I’m fairly certain that the coordinates I gave are indeed accurate for Area 51 - based on photos in the Wikipedia entry and elsewhere, it’s a match. yes you are correct. But this Tonopah Test Range looks like one wild and wacky place! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-twofer-green-circles-and-area-51/319157.md?page=1)