# The Great Wall of China is NOT visible from the moon, dammit!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 17, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550 "2005-02-17T15:30:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/1 "2005-02-17T15:30:30Z")
My daughter came home from 3rd grade class last night with a homework assignment that had a brief paragraph about the Great Wall of China and a few simple questions. One of the questions was, “Why do you think the Great Wall is visible from the moon?” I told her to write, “It isn’t” and showed her a quote from Alan Bean, an astronaut, about how you can’t see any man-made objects on Earth from the moon.
Why do these myths get into our educational system?
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### Author:  [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/2 "2005-02-17T16:24:44Z")
I remember hearing that it was the only man-made object that was visible from _space_, which is quite a different thing, and even that isn’t true.
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### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/3 "2005-02-17T16:52:16Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> Why do these myths get into our educational system?
Because it’s taking longer than we thought.
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### Author:  [@Frank\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_2)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/4 "2005-02-17T17:01:38Z")
You could print [this picture](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0201/earthrise_apollo8_big.gif) and then ask your daughter’s teacher to point out the Great Wall.
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### Author:  [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/5 "2005-02-17T17:02:18Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#):
>
> I remember hearing that it was the only man-made object that was visible from _space_, which is quite a different thing, and even that isn’t true.
even the Chinese admit this now.
[http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/12/world/great\_wall040312](http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/12/world/great_wall040312)
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/6 "2005-02-17T17:39:16Z")
Can you see pollution from space?
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/7 "2005-02-17T18:23:00Z")
Yes. Toronto, or any large sity, looks like mould. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Cinnamon\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Girl)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/8 "2005-02-17T19:34:19Z")
> [@Zebra](#):
>
> Can you see pollution from space?
[Yes.](http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/efs/mm.htm) Choose “Pollution” from the “Available Views” selection box and click Start Search.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/9 "2005-02-17T20:00:43Z")
So you can see something man made from space.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/10 "2005-02-17T23:29:29Z")
> [@Zebra](#):
>
> So you can see something man made from space.
Yes but
(a) it’s not “only” the GWOC
and
(b) it’s not _from the Moon_, but from geosynch-or-lower orbit (1/10th to 1/250th the distance)
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### Author:  [@NotWithoutRage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotWithoutRage)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/11 "2005-02-18T00:08:36Z")
Maybe her teacher got the idea from **The Truman Show** , which states (with graphic) the “fact” t hat the Truman sphere is the only man made object, besides the Great Wall of China, that can be seen in space.
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### Author:  [@Agent\_Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Cooper)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/12 "2005-02-18T00:25:23Z")
Wouldn’t Khafre’s pyramid be more visible? I realize that neither would be from as far as the moon, but I think you would lose the wall before the pyramid as you moved out…
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### Author:  [@Squonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squonk)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/13 "2005-02-18T00:38:02Z")
> [@Kythereia](#):
>
> Because it’s taking longer than we thought.
**WAY** longer.
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_092.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_092.html)
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### Author:  [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/14 "2005-02-18T02:11:17Z")
So, **CookingWithGas** , what happened at school today? What did the teacher say when your daughter told her that nothing man-made was visible from the Moon?
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### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/15 "2005-02-18T02:14:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The Great Wall of China is NOT visible from the moon, dammit
!
But the moon is visible from the GWoC, so surely …
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### Author:  [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/16 "2005-02-18T02:43:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> “Why do you think the Great Wall is visible from the moon?”
Even if it were true, the question still doesn’t make much sense. _Why_ is it visible? Why? How are you supposed to answer that? Worse, “why _do you think_”, as if it were a matter of opinion?
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/17 "2005-02-18T03:10:07Z")
If it were true, the “why” would be that we have a better ability to see small, stringy objects than smaller, boxy objects of the same width, so in certain situations we might be able to see a 10 meter wide road that stretches for miles but not be able to see a 30 meter square house (numbers taken out of my posterior.)
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-wall-of-china-is-not-visible-from-the-moon-dammit/290550/18 "2005-02-18T04:20:34Z")
These numbers smell like ass.