Wednesday, April 06, 2011

NOW YOU KNOW


The image above, taken from Wikipedia, is a sattelite image.  But it is not of the Great Red Spot of Jupiter.  It's not from Jupiter at all, or for that matter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune.  It is from Earth -- specifically, in the Sahara Desert, near Mauritania.  Called the Richat Structure, it is, from outer space, a terrestrial bulls-eye.

At nearly 50 kilometers (roughly 30 miles) in diameter wide, the Richat Structure is an odd series of anticlines -- folds of earth which being at the planet's core -- which have eroded over time, creating rings of sand, bedrock, etc.  (Per NASA, why the structure is circular in shape is a mystery.)  Want to visit?  You can -- and you can stay overnight, at what some term a "hotel" in the middle of the faux "target."  But do not expect a five-star experience -- the abodes there are, at best, rudimentary wooden huts.  And getting there is difficult at best: there is no regular transportation to the center of the Richat Structure.
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