SPACE IMAGING NEWS RELEASE
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| Tightly-cropped image of the Maha Kumbh Mela from above
view. The image clearly shows masses of worshipers bathing
in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. ÊAlso notice that the shape
of the sand banks in the river has changed from the May "before"
image. A reported 30 million people bathed in the rivers during
the day to wash away their sins. Credit: spaceimaging.com. |
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. The festival is expected to attract 70 million people to
a sacred location on the Ganges River, 15 km from Allahabad, for
more than a month of bathing rituals.
The Ikonos
image, which was collected the day before the most sacred and
busiest bathing day on January 24, is available for free to the
media. A "before" image shows the area prior to the event.
The one-meter resolution image of the Maha Kumbh Mela was collected
by Space Imaging's Ikonos satellite, which travels four miles
per-second in an orbit 423 miles above Earth. The spectacular
image is the first high-resolution satellite image ever taken
of such an event. The image shows the sacred site at the confluence
of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers where millions
of Hindu worshippers bathe to wash away their sins and hasten
the Hindu people's progress toward nirvana.
Space Imaging is a leading supplier of visual information products
derived from space imagery and aerial photography. The company
launched the world's first and only one-meter resolution, commercial
Earth imaging satellite, Ikonos, on September. 24, 1999. Other
CARTERRA products are produced from the Indian Remote Sensing
satellites, the U.S. Landsat, Canada's RADARSAT and the European
Space Agency's ERS satellites. Space Imaging also delivers aerial-derived
imagery products collected by its own Digital Airborne Imaging
System (DAIS-1).
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