This is the utterly bizarre, and totally incredible White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, USA. The monument is the southernmost part of a 710 square kilometre (275-square mile) field of startlingly white sand dunes, which are composed of gypsum crystals which are water soluble, but as there’s no sea outlet, all the dissolved gypsum from the surrounding mountains collects here instead.

You can picnic, sandboard, and take guided orientation and nature walks here, however I’m pretty sure the guides won’t let you wander too far, as the monument is within the White Sands Missile Range. They actually close the monument to the public roughly twice a week to conduct tests! The most famous weapon tested at this range was the first ever detonation of an atomic bomb on July 16, 1945 – the infamous Trinity Test.

The brand-newly launched Yahoo Maps Beta has some stunning high-res images of the test site (and some very nifty features too). Compare the Google image with the Yahoo one:

We look forward to receiving a deluge of Yahoo Maps submissions!

Thanks to Allen Ormond, Shital Shah, Richard, Tim Gregory, Int13, Tyler, Richard Rowley, Kyle, Jeff, Mike, Earl, Alan, Steve Ransom, Rob Marshall, Bruno, Matt Musselman, Mr. Putty, an MP, woowoowoo, Percel and Matt

This wreck out in the Hudson Bay is the MV Ithica. She was in the process of hauling a cargo of nickel ore from Rankin Inlet to Montreal in 1961 when a storm grounded her on those tidal flats. Apparently she can be reached on foot during low tides and when the Hudson Bay is frozen over.

Thanks: Eric Veilleux

Is this a mysterious floating disc in Egypt? It certainly shares characteristics with the Australian Flying Car, but this time the ’shadow’ looks too… dense? And maybe too sharp around the edges as well I think.

Maybe this is actually the world’s largest manhole cover!

Thanks to Hide Kuwa

No, it’s not the name of a ninja. In this shot of the bell tower at the University of Dallas, Google have obviously combined two images taken at different times. This had led to two shadows being cast from the tower. It almost looks like the hands on a clock face.

The one to the east is longer so it’s just about 10:15.

Thanks: notmrjohn

Richard found his Grandad!

I just managed to get Google Earth installed on my PC, and was trying to explain to my Grandad how it works. So I found his house – and lo and behold he was standing in his garden when the satellite went over. He’s the only man I know that gardens in a white shirt. This may only be interesting to the two of us, I know. But it made explaining it a lot easier – even if he does look up every time he leaves his house now…

Many thanks to Rich, and his Grandad too