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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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