Yes, We Can...

Obama inauguration viewed from space


GeoEye must have planned the satellite orbit to match this historic ceremony. The flyover happened about 45 minutes before the oath-taking. The second image (a crop of the complete imagery made available by GeoEye) shows the strange configuration in which the croud has assembled, suggesting a specific alignment of he large viewing screens put up for the occassion.

The only other occassion that such masses of humanity have been recorded by a satellite overpass is during the Kumbh Mela in India by IKONOS on the 23 January 2001.Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite has taken a detailed color photograph of the largest human gathering in the history of the world, the Maha Kumbh Mela, a spiritual event held every 144 years in Northern India. This image can be viewed at http://www.digitalglobe.com/index.php/27/Sample+Imagery+Gallery?ITEM=15