# New Area 51 satellite images **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242 "2005-05-03T16:31:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/21 "2005-05-03T19:37:08Z")
I think the circles might also be for sewage treatment. An aeration/sedimentation tank to feed the pond, like [so](http://www.cadinfo.net/editorial/cronulla.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/22 "2005-05-03T19:46:53Z")
Well, it’s real easy to actually link to the original google map location instead of the personal pages of someone at pdu.edu if he really wanted serious comments about the images. If I saw the original links with crosshairs and triangles, I’d be more apt to ponder them. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/23 "2005-05-03T19:59:33Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Well, it’s real easy to actually link to the original google map location instead of the personal pages of someone at pdu.edu if he really wanted serious comments about the images. I noticed that [Barry](http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/b/f/bfs124/) didn’t link to his Google find from his online resume. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/24 "2005-05-03T20:09:30Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > I noticed that [Barry](http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/b/f/bfs124/) didn’t link to his Google find from his online resume. > > Why is that? LOL! That’s just cruel, Duckster. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/25 "2005-05-03T20:27:28Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > If you open these jpegs in Photoshop, and zoom way way way in, you can see thousands of little tiny spaceships, driven by bubble-helmeted space raccoons. My god, [it’s true.](http://www.larrymudd.com/images/area51.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/26 "2005-05-03T20:36:24Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Well, it’s real easy to actually link to the original google map location instead of the personal pages of someone at pdu.edu if he really wanted serious comments about the images. > > If I saw the original links with crosshairs and triangles, I’d be more apt to ponder them. I don’t know about the crosshairs, but here’s the triangle: https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.665124,-116.025646&spn=0.015750,0.021329&t=k&hl=en My WAG is that it (and the crosshairs) are for bombing practice. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/27 "2005-05-03T21:37:53Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > My god, [it’s true.](http://www.larrymudd.com/images/area51.jpg) Run for your life! It’s the invasion of the noseless Zsa Zsa Gabors! ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/28 "2005-05-03T22:11:03Z")
> [@Twoflower](#): > > The “Intentionally Blacked Out Areas” are sewage treatment ponds. Thank you for clearing that up, lest someone advanced the theory they’re where Saddam the WMDs. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/29 "2005-05-03T22:32:46Z")
I looked at the location of the triangle in WorldWind, which doesn’t have the resolution, but it doesn’t seem to be there on the NLT Landsat7 images. If I follow AndrewL’s link above for the Google image, and zoom out as far as I can but still have the triangle clearly visible, then zoom in with World Wind so that the same land area is displayed, I can’t see any signs of triangles in WW. And considering that the straight lines are laid out over terrain that’s obviously not flat (as you can see by tilting the view in WW), I don’t think the lines and circles are real. The satellite image would have had to be taken from directly overhead for the lines to remain straight over uneven terrain. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/30 "2005-05-03T22:36:06Z")
Aren’t those crosshairs typical of the type found in _a 1920’s style Death Ray?_ ---
**Author:** ![Roboticwurm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@Roboticwurm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roboticwurm)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/31 "2005-05-03T22:56:29Z")
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.923287,-116.777802&spn=0.499878,0.523911&t=k&hl=en I believe that’s the link to the “black circles.” Stumbled upon it while scrolling around the link to the triangles. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/32 "2005-05-03T23:07:25Z")
The ‘freaky hexagram’ is obviously where the local synagogue is located. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/33 "2005-05-03T23:53:50Z")
I don’t know what’s growing in the black circles, but whatever it is, it grew right over the top of the google image watermark! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/34 "2005-05-04T01:12:55Z")
The “Freaky Hexagram” is a standard USAF target mockup of a standard Soviet SA-6 surface to air missile battery dug in. I used to fly jets out of Nellis AFB & dropped a lot of bombs on targets justy like that in the non- Area 51 parts of the Nellis ranges. The crosshairs look to me like a mixture of a real target with photoshop improvements. The cross lines are too sharp & straight for the terrain they’re laid over. But the basic shape is not untypical for a target. The “bomb testing grounds” looks exactly like a typical "tactical target array, meant to emulate an enemy airfield or truck park or army/navy base. The so-called “golowing spots in the desert” photos are very typical of what accumulated bomb cratering looks like. It pulverizes the dirt and turns it a lighter color. There’s no glow, just different weathering. Without spending a bunch of time on Google to verify the lat/long coordinates, I can’t say if these pix are really within Area 51, or simply part of the non-secret Nellis AFB range complex. Move along now, nothing mysterious here. There are another 20 places around the USA to see the same sorts of formations, albeit usually carved into different terrain. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/35 "2005-05-04T01:59:45Z")
Some of those “craters” look more like mounds to me. Perhaps they’ve buried toxic waste or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/36 "2005-05-04T02:25:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The “Freaky Hexagram” is a standard USAF target mockup of a standard Soviet SA-6 surface to air missile battery dug in. Your going to have to do better than that to describe away the “Freaky Hexagram”! I mean seriously, that is not just a plain old hexagram of the garden variety, that thing is a full blown, “Freaky” hexagram. I get scared even thinking about it! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/37 "2005-05-04T02:37:05Z")
The “freaky hexagram” is very obviously a star of David. More evidence of the International Jewish Conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/38 "2005-05-04T12:33:48Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Some of those “craters” look more like mounds to me. Perhaps they’ve buried toxic waste or something like that. Well, they certainly have dumped toxic waste there (though I don’t know if these pits are the waste or not). > **[Las Vegas News | Breaking News & Headlines | Las Vegas Review-Journal](https://www.reviewjournal.com)** > > The Las Vegas Review-Journal is Nevada's most trusted source for local news, Las Vegas sports, business news, gaming news, entertainment news and more. Looks like they prefer to burn waste in 300-foot-long trenches. ---
**Author:** ![KeithP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@KeithP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KeithP)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/39 "2005-05-04T17:26:54Z")
> [@The Chao Goes Mu](#): > > ::::tinfoil hat on:::: ::::tin foil hat off:::: I thought foil was made out of aluminum. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242/40 "2005-05-04T17:36:06Z")
> [@KeithP](#): > > I thought foil was made out of aluminum. 😕 or alumin **i** um [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-area-51-satellite-images/302242.md?page=3)