Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.
Is this dark grey triangle off the coast of Rio de Janeiro a giant Manta Ray? They can apparently grow up to 8 metres wide, so if a Manta Ray was swimming near the surface we might be able to see something at the maximum zoom level. Any sealife experts willing to prove it one way or the other?
This form supports simple HTML, but URLs will be automatically linked.
Link to specific places with a Google Maps link, or with a latitude and longitude written like this:
lat/lng:55.9494,-3.2000
If you've found something that you think should be posted in its own entry then use the suggestion form!
Want your own icon? Get a Gravatar.
The weirdest and best of Google Earth is now available in the…
Could it be Mola mola?
Whaaaaaaaaaaa? Manta Ray? Eeeeeeeek!
It’s size is similar to some of the houses along the beach to the north (if not bigger), which would make it quite large.
I thought it might be a sun fish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish), but they only get to 13 at the largest.
* crosses fingers *
But I love mantas… and that would be just super if this were one.
Well they can get quite big as seen in this pic: http://www.ukdivers.net/life/rs/manta_ray.jpg
Nice find.
Its apparent size, measured with Google Earth is about 1m x 2.1m, and it’s not regular (the east side is longer than the west one). Of course, these are just apparent measures, the real size being dependant on the depth where this thing is.
I just measured (via Google Earth) and this baby has a “wingspan” of 20 meters. Also, zooming in and taking up the saturation reveals some unlikely Manta coloration (could be artifacts…)
http://www.animalu.com/Manta.jpg
So my guess is rock with green plants or perhaps a creature from the movie “The Abyss”
http://www.big.or.jp/~gomex/ms/abyss1.jpg
But with green lights instead of pink.
I’ve never heards of these animals around here in Rio. Being off the coast of Rio it’s probably just pollution.
APG,
Don’t you mean more like 10m x 20m? That is what I measure in gEarth.
APG… What google earth are YOU using? Mine says it’s 16m x 10m.
Water is like a magnifying glass… it might appear larger than it actually is.
Couldn’t it be just a wisp of cloud? If you scroll to the left you can see other clouds.
Wikipedia says “Mantas are most commonly black above and white below, but some are blue on their backs.”
I’d say its too light/grayish to be that.
Perhaps its a rock below the surface? (Below, seeing as the surface water doesn’t seem to be disturbed by it at all)
I bet it’s Phoenix. (X-men 2)
Those “clouds” are not really clouds. It is water crashing against the rocks, making white caps.
Take a screencap of that section, increase the gamma in a photo editor, and you’ll notice there don’t seem to be any ripples caused from waves hitting the triangle. So it’s almost certainly below water.
There does seem to be a curving trail coming from behind it that curves around rightward towards the north. It seems to me that could be the resulting ripples of something swimming just below the close-to-surface. On the other hand, it might also be a reef.
I think it’s a cloud.
I think it’s one of these:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Come on guys, its obvious to me that is a picture of the Flying-Sub from The Seaview.
http://www.iann.net/voyage/
http://www.vttbots.com/Graphics/flyingsub\_thomas7g\_index.jpg
I’d love it to be a Manta – but I’m pessimistic. I’ve seen quite a lot of small Manta Rays at Placemark: South Stradbroke Island / Google Earth in Australia and they’re always very dark (black) above. Against water this colour, they would be invisible.
There are some unusual artefacts (whisps?) around the area, but none look as solid as this. It also seems to have some 3d form. IMHO it’s not a rock – the water looks quite deep, not a cloud – too solid, the ‘trail’ is a furphy – there are many in the area, most likely surface scum in ‘wind lanes’ caused by inconsistent wind patterns (ask any fisherman!).
Worth considering the possibility that this object is well above the water. Take the nearby rocks as an example – it’s almost impossible to see any features below the surface although there must be some shallow points. Also, for a reality check, compare sizes with this Placemark: small boat / Google Earth and another one in the lee of the rocks further south. It makes it one VERY big ray!
If it’s a living thing, it’s a whale.
Ouups! Sorry for the forgotten zeros, please read 10 x 20 (instead of 1 x 2)
I think God left a rock there on Porpoise
I think it’s a ketchup farm that is either not ripe yet, or overripe.
I think I have found what could be……uhm, whales, sea serpents, I dunno!!!….there are rocks and lots of strange grey wisps in the water, scroll around…….and this is off the coast of Nova Scotia where whales are plentiful….and yes this is “hole-in-the-coast” Patrick
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
that’s pretty odd that is – notice the circular nature of the water too – like fanning out around that white splash – crazeh!
*hits the bong*
Hey has anyone found any whirlpools yet?
on patricks link there is a whirlpool i think. scroll down a tiny bit and to the right.
Sorry guys… but it’s… me!
Light that passes through water loses its red component–see the blue wash around those rocks? If this thing were underwater, it’d be blue, not grey..
Could it be a power glider? That might explain the size as well as the trail coming from it (it could be smoke).
Patrick, if you look around, especially to the north where the hi-res comes back, there are things doing that that are almost certainly not whales.
I’m thinking along the same lines as Keith T. – it’s some kind of hang glider.
http://rioadventuretours.com/Hang_Gliding.html
A hang glider two miles from shore? No chance. It’s just a wisp of cloud, or maybe the wash from a random breaker.
I don’t believe for a second we can find the answers to everything on Google. File this one under “unexplanable”.
Im not really sure what it is. But i was strongly doubt its a solid mass. For waves to be breaking all round both masses it would have to be incredibly freaky.
This is what parasailing looks like…..these are off the southern tip of Baja….
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
A while back, I was determined to find land mammals in Google Maps, so I went to zoos’ websites to find their elephant exhibits, but I was still unable to pinpoint an elephant (my guess is that they look like rocks from above).
After being unsuccessful, I figured it would be easier to shoot fish in a barrel (so to speak), and checked out Sea World’s web page. This is a shot of the killer whale exhibit in Florida, and I think the grey smudge must be the whales in one of the resting tanks:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Tim, there’s a discussion of whether or not those are whales on the SeaWorld Post.
Thanks for pointing that out… I was even thanked for my submission in that thread!
Didn’t know it was there.
I think it might be some part of “Bermuda Triangle”
I was trying to find the bison in Golden Gate Park:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
I don’t have the post with me at the moment , but there is a spot in SE Wyoming where you can clearly see cattle on the prairie, trails to and from the watering holes….I will see if I can find it.
If you use Google Earth on the same location (it uses the same set of photos), you can get a much better view of this (or whichever) thing. Because zooming in Google Earth in indefinite, not “staged” like in Google Maps, plus the image will not be scewed to the Mercator projection (very noticeable everywhere above 49-th latitude). In this particular case, Google Earth zoom is still not absolutely conclusive – but I see enough features on this thing to consider it a rock or a reef, most likely above water level.
I secretly wish it to be a giant squid. Those things get huge.
I think it is a b-2 bomber or other stelthplane, it cold be
I think ot could be a B-2 Bomber, or some sort of airplane, it doesn’t have to be underwater, it could perfectly be flying