Lucky People Share Rarely-Seen Photos Of International Borders Taken From Space
Borders between countries are often considered merely lines on a map. But humankind has carved their footprint on the planet. Now some of those lines can be seen from space. These images from the NASA Earth Observatory image database show the few instances where an international boundary is visible from the heavens.
All of the images were taken either by astronauts on the International Space Station or by satellites orbiting the Earth.
China-North Korea-South Korea
This image from the Expedition 38 crew on the International Space Station in February 2014, shows North Korea almost indistinguishable from the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan on either side of the country. Only the capital of Pyongyang in the center is visible at night, a marked contrast to its neighbors, China and South Korea.
United States-Mexico
This International Space Station photo from October 2014 shows the Rio Grande and a wall separating the United States and Mexico. El Paso, Texas, on the U.S. side lays across the river from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, on the Mexico side. Four international points of entry connecting Ciudad Juárez and El Paso: the Bridge of the Americas, Ysleta International Bridge, Paso del Norte Bridge and Stanton Street Bridge.
United States-Mexico (infrared)
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), a high resolution imaging instrument that is flying on the Terra satellite, took this infrared photo on May 19, 2000. The right side of the image shows farmlands of California in the United States. The left side is Mexican arid expanses with a few farms dotting the landscape. The border town of Mexicali-Calexico lies in the middle of the image, with El Centro, California to the right. Imperial Valley of California is a major fruit and vegetable producer for the US, watered by canals fed from the Colorado River.
China-Kazakhstan
The farmlands of China, sustained through irrigation that pulls about 65% of the country's fresh water, is a stark contrast to its neighbor, Kazakhstan of the former Soviet Union. 10% of land in China is used for farming compared to 0.03% used by Kazakhstan which relies on only a few industrial sized farms. According to NASA, as of 2006, about 629,000 square kilometers (242,858 square miles) of land in China is irrigated, an area only slightly smaller than Texas.
Iran-Iraq
The Expedition 41 crew aboard the International Space Station in November 2014 first thought they were looking at oil pads on this stretch of border between Iran and Iraq. However this almost 20 kilometer (12 mile) line near the Persian Gulf is visible from space for a more deadly reason. The landscape has been altered by circular gun emplacements, connecting roads, and land fortifications running parallel to the boundary. The area was highly contested by the neighboring countries in the 1980s. That conflict has left its mark on the planet.
Brazil-Bolivia
Another ASTER satellite image, taken July 2, 2008, shows the differences in deforestation between Brazil and Bolivia. Brazil, on the bottom left side, opened their Acre Province in the rainforest to farming and settlement. Bolivia, on the other hand, preserved its native rainforest in the Pando Department, leaving the area in the upper right untouched by development.
Israel-Egypt
Different choices for agriculture industries, not military fortifications, make the countries' border between Israel and Egypt just barely visible from space. This November 2011 image from the Expedition 29 crew aboard the International Space Station shows a visible line between Egypt and Israel. A road separates the two countries and Israel's commercial agriculture results in angular fields while the lighter color of the Egyptian soil is a result of trampling by livestock disrupting the dark soil crusts seen in Israel.
(former) East Germany-West Germany
This 2012 picture, taken by astronaut Chris Hadfield and documented by André Kuipers from the International Space Station,.shows some of the remaining differences between the former east and west Berlin. The lights in the eastern part appear yellow, while the lights in the western part are whiter. Why? The western region has more modern, environmentally friendly streetlights.
Haiti-Dominican Republic
This 2002 satellite image shows the effects of deforestation in Haiti versus the greener land of the Dominican Republic on the right.
India-Pakistan
Known as the Radcliffe Line, 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) of the India-Pakistan border is floodlit with thousands of troops permanently posted along it.The border is one of the most heavily militarized on Earth with a fence running the entire distance to discourage smuggling and arms trafficking. An expedition 45 crew member aboard the International Space Station took this nighttime panorama in September 2015 while looking across Pakistan's Indus River valley.
I can't definitively say I've come face to face with the spirits. But I have had some unsettling feelings in the dark. Shadows are just shadows sometimes, but who can be sure.
I hear it...
Nbc Wings GIF by HULUGiphy"I was helping my dad clean my grandma's house after she passed and I went in and was trying to find a song in my phone and before I could I heard a cough plain as day come from down the hallway where her room was. She died of lung and throat cancer it was pretty crazy."
Running Past...
"When I was 5 I remember getting home from my grandpa's birthday party. For context my mom was pregnant with my brother at the time, so my parents had already bought his crib. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a women in a white dress and long black hair standing over my brother's crib. I managed to wake up my dad so he could take me to the bathroom. When I got back it was still there. It was only until morning when it disappeared. Every now and then I see a glance of what I assume is that thing running past the backyard."
The Cat
"My best friend and his wife had moved to a new apartment. I came over to visit a few times, and each time I'd see the motion of a cat in my peripheral vision. Not the image of a cat, but a sense of how a cat moves. Anyway, one day I finally cracked some joke about the ghost cat in the place and his wife was instantly saying "See! See! I told you we had a ghost cat!"
"excuse me"
"I worked graveyard shift in a dementia ward for 4 years and it was anything but quiet. I was working with a nurse one night when we both heard a resident say "excuse me." We looked around and no-one was there. I checked on the resident in question and she was fast asleep in her own room. Many of us also experienced someone whistling in the ward late at night and one nurse even managed to catch a video of it happening. It was unnerving to say the least."
Clueless
Skeleton GIFGiphy"I once saw someone short walk by me in my house. They walked into the laundry room which only has one way in. I walked into it behind them and they where gone. I thought it was my little brother but I went to his room and he was asleep. I still have no clue what that was."
- ImBolio
Now was everyone here positive they were sober? Just asking. Those are certainly spooky moments. I'd like some video footage please. Continue...
Reflections
ghost library GIFGiphy"I was up at 3am when I was maybe 7 or 8. I looked out the window and saw a woman in a white dress run across my yard. I could see through her. She was transparent like the reflections on the window."
"you alright?"
"So, my work place is haunted. I was having a really crap day, and as a cleaner, it's normal that me and my co worker will be the only ones left at night. So I was standing on the second floor, leaning on the banister for the stair case, when I heard this male voice say in my ear "you alright?" Clear as day. I turned around so fast and nobody was there and it scared the hell out of me."
- Rex-the-
Watching Me
"I remember as a young kid I usually use to sit in my bed and watch tv with my room door open while the adjacent guest bedroom next to mine would always have the door shut. I always remember seeing that door fully open and close by itself multiple times a day very slowly and gently. Never really bothered me much now that I think about it… but there were other creepier experiences I had in the same house that made me feel uncomfortable like I was being watched."
Betsy
"I went to the Betsy Ross House as a really little kid in the early 90s. Normal house but I was confused why the tour guide never talked about the woman on the chair crying at the edge of the bed in Betsy Ross's bedroom. So I asked about it. No one else saw the woman at the edge of the bed. I figured it was just a wax museum since there was a wax statue of a man in uniform rolling bullets in the basement."
"Years later, I was looking at haunted Philadelphia tours to go on with a friend and the Betsy Ross House was on it. I was like "woah! I was there!" and looked into it some more. Turns out there is a woman at the end of the bed crying and a uniformed man in the basement that people have reported seeing. There is no way that 8 year old me would have known about either of these things."
hello kitty...
hello kitty lol GIF by Animation Domination High-DefGiphy"I had this hello kitty Balloon In my bed room, it had a string and weight on it. So it was late, I had the lights on just Sitting on my bed. The Balloon turns, faces my door, slowly floats into my hallway and turns and floats into my sister's room. To this day I am scared of balloons."
They are among us and they like Hello Kitty. I'm probably rattling the paranormal cages and they'll come for me next, but I'm ready. I feel like this thread has prepared me.
Boo!
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