Baikonur Cosmodrome is the world’s oldest and largest operational space launch facility where you can clearly see the Energia, Soyuz and Proton launch platforms. Located in what is now Kazakhstan, the facility was named Baikonur to confuse the West of its exact location, as the town of Baikonur is some 320km away (although anyone who has flown on the bright orange budget airline would have expected this).

On the base we can also see a full-scale model of the Ptichka – the second of Russia’s Space Shuttle designs. The Ptichka construction began in 1988 and followed the Buran, which we’ve previously spotted. The name means ‘little bird’ in Russian, but was only a nickname as the shuttle was cancelled just before it was completed and formally named.

The real Ptichka is kept indoors at Baikonur Cosmodrome, as was the original Buran shuttle. However the only Soviet craft to enter space was destroyed in 2002 when the roof above it collapsed, crushing the Buran and its mockup of the Energia booster rocket. I could be wrong but it was probably this big building with no roof. Can you spot a bit of Buran?

Thanks: Georgi Petrov (x3), dimuskin, Tesla_HV, & Hamish CJ (Get me pictures?)

Just off the coast of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, is what looks rather like a Rum Slick – waste from the production of molasses at the nearby Cruzan Rum Distillery.

Certainly the dark patch starts directly offshore from the point where the distance is shortest between the distillery and the sea – but surely it would be madness to so obviously pollute such beautiful waters, especially when the island’s economy relies so heavily on tourism?

Thanks to Joshua Germany.

The Crystal Palace was a huge iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851 (photo tour). After the exhibition the building was moved to Upper Norwood where it stood from 1854 until 1936, when it was sadly destroyed by fire.

Today the park where it stood is still known as Crystal Palace Park, but where the building originally was, now stands the 222 metre Crystal Palace Transmitter, which is surprisingly, London’s 2nd tallest structure (second only to Canary Wharf!).

There are remnants of the exhibition still here however, including this awesome collection of wholly anatomically inaccurate dinosaur sculptures!

Another relic of the Victorian era is this fantastic circular maze, which dates all the way back to 1872!

Obligatory Wikipedia links: The Crystal Palace, the Great Exhibition, Crystal Palace Park, the Crystal Palace Transmitter, Crystal Palace Victorian Dinosaurs.

Thanks: Alain Trembleau and Simon Cope.

A long time ago, way back when this website began, I thought that spotting submarines on satellite photographs would be very unlikely, what with them travelling underwater most of the time.

As it turned out there are a lot of submarines sitting about on land, but it has taken a while for someone to find a travelling submarine. This Ming class diesel submarine is on its way back to Lushun Naval Base where there’s a few more docked up.

Thanks to Bill Preston.

Get out your diaries and keep November 9th free as that’s the day you’ll be able to buy Google Sightseeing – the book!

We’ve got almost 100 of our favourite sights from the last year, licensed high-quality satellite photographs and fully re-researched each one. For our most dedicated fans there’s even a few sights that aren’t even viewable on Google Earth (including the spectacular world’s largest diamond mine).

In the US the book will be published as “Off the Map – The Most Amazing Sights on Earth as Seen by Satellite” (Carrol & Graf – ISBN: 0786718633). In the UK the same book will go by “Not in the Guide Book – The wackiest sights in Google Earth, as seen by googlesightseeing.com” (Constable & Robinson – ISBN: 1845294661). Here’s the official blurb:

You thought there was noting left on Earth to explore – but here are nearly 100 truly awesome sights on planet Earth that no guide book will take you near. Drawn from the runaway-success blog googlesightseeing.com, these satellite camera discoveries include

‘Plug Holes in the Mediterranean’, ‘Arizona’s Boneyard’, ‘The White Snake of Baja’, ‘The Hole in the Coast of Mexico’, ‘Face of Jesus Found in the Sand Dune’ and ‘Area 51′

Manmade marvels, bizarre natural formations, high-security areas and the simply uncategorizable but infinitely cool – here are some of the weirdest sights in the world…

We’re very proud of what we’ve produced and we hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do. US Readers can pre-order Off the Map – The Most Amazing Sights on Earth as Seen by Satellite* on Amazon.com and our UK readers can order Not in the Guide Book – The wackiest sights in Google Earth, as seen by googlesightseeing.com* from Amazon.co.uk.

* These are affiliate links, which make us a tiny extra percentage on each sale. Thanks!