Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Reading ABCs from space

Reading ABCs from space

Most of us have played the game where you stare up at the clouds and try to find objects, animals or faces within the formations.

An expert took the game a step further and found the entire alphabet in natural phenomenons all around our planet using Nasa satellite imagery and astronaut photography.

After two years of searching, he finally collected 26 different images that resemble each of the letters in the alphabet.

‘A few years ago, while working on a story about wildfires, a V appeared to me in a satellite image of a smoke plume over Canada,’ Adam Voiland, a science writer for the Nasa Earth Observatory wrote in a recent article.

‘That image made me wonder: could I track down all 26 letters of the English alphabet using only NASA satellite imagery and astronaut photography?’

Three years ago, Voiland looked to the World Wide Web for help with this project.

He reached out to fellow science fanatics and asked them to assist him with compiling a gallery he calls, ‘Reading the ABCs from Space’.

‘This is the first that I’ve noticed, but I have no doubt there are many more to find given the ceaseless mixing and swirling of clouds, smoke, dust, ice, and even phytoplankton that constantly occurs on our planet’, Voiland wrote in his blog.

He asked others to let him know if they find anything that looks similar to a letter in the alphabet.

‘Send a link to what you’ve found, and explain what letter or other typographical mark you think you see.’

Voiland explained some letters, like O and C, were easy to spot, but had a difficult time finding others like A, B and R.

(Pics - Daily mail)

Last modified on Friday, 01 January 2016 08:41