Tower of Hercules
Sunday, 13th November 2005 by James Turnbull
The Tower of Hercules is the oldest Roman lighthouse in the world and the only one still in operation. Spanish legend has it that one of the many heroes named Hercules battled the giant Gerión on this site, killed him, and built the 68 metre tower on top of his bones (Ground level picture).
There is also what appears to be a strange purple orb in the satellite photo (top left of the thumbnail). I can't find any mention of paving art or a reflective dish near the tower, so can only conclude it is a giant version of the 80's office toy / science experiment, the "Plasma Globe".
Reader Brian McNeill, who lives in the area, let us know that the Plasma Globe is just a Compass rose, which you can see more clearly from this aerial photograph. Mystery solved!
Thanks: E150
I think we can rule out Plasma Globe. If it’s on the ground, it measures about 72 feet in diameter. The largest globe made, according to the website, is 30 inches.
Could this be some kind of atmospheric phenomenon like the “UFOs” reported at other locations? The sun’s elevation is very low in this image judging from the length of the lighthouse tower, so I would guess this is a reflection from some object on the ground.
I go to La Coruña very often, I know the city and I can confirm that orb is not anything physically on the place 🙂
The orb appears to be centered right on the road. As previously commented, the sun is very low. So, I think there’s a fairly good chance that it’s actually a car windscreen reflecting the sun itself as the angles roughly work out. Of course the number of things happening at exactly the right moment for this to happen makes the odds of it quite a long shot, which just makes it so much cooler.
It’s hard to believe that a light flare of that size would be a windshield reflection. At the height the photos were taken, the vehicle would have to be about 100ft wide.
It’s obviously sirens luring seafarers to their doom.
I live near A Coruña. The “orb” is a big “wind rose.
Now we know what it is and its reflecting the sun back at us, who is going to calculate the angle and point the satelite was when making this picture….
I am from La Coruña and in fact is a wind rose, built a few years ago.
Es una ciudad encantadora.Premio a la ciudad mas habitable del planeta. Ciudad en la que nadie es forastero,dice su slogan.Familar,acogedora y monumental.Calor humano.Ciudadanos de origen celta.Idioma propio,musica tipo Celta. Hay que conocerla. 2 aeropuertos, puerto importante,cruceros…
¿2 aeropuertos? Como no estés contando el de Santiago… xD