Contest #117 answer: Ekranoplan at Kaspiysk, Dagestan

Well, you never cease to amaze me. Lots of you were correct in identifying the ‘plane’ on this picture: it is an Ekranoplan, a large Russian Ground effect vehicle, a.k.a the Caspian Sea Monster and located at the harbour of Kaspiysk, in the Russian Federal Republic of Dagestan

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Click here for an action video of the Caspian Sea Monster.

I recently saw a movie about these vehicles on Discovery Channel and was curious if I could locate one in Google Earth, which resulted in this contest.

Those who were not frightened by the monster:

  • Ivar Bonsaken
  • realpetko
  • Pascal Gilbraith
  • Tetraskelion
  • brian t
  • Milosh, Serbia
  • Andy M
  • Camargo, California
  • Doc Will
  • Willem
  • AbbieX
  • Dennis S.
  • JackalWSU#3
  • Jon B
  • Falco
  • Alex
  • ej

Contest #116 answer: Tristan da Cunha

First of all: we have a lot of new contestants. Welcome to you all. If you file your answer, it would be very helpful to leave a last initial or a nickname which is somewhat unique. Furthermore, you might want yo check your answer with the Google Earth imagery to see if they match.

Contest #116 was Tristan da Cunha, as most of you guessed correctly. It is the most remote inhabited spot on this earth: the nearest continent (Africa) is over 2800 km away and the nearest neighbours live on St. Helena, a distance of 2430 km.

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Tristan da Cunha was discovered in 1506 by the Portugese seafarer Tristão da Cunha but is only permanent inhabited since 1810. Nowadays there live about 270 residents. Visiting is possible, but not after prior permission from the local Government. The journey by boat (from Cape Town) takes about 6 days.

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Tristan da Cunha has its own on-line newspaper: the Tristan Times.

Those who took the journey:

  • Ivar Bonsaken
  • Neil
  • Milosh, Serbia
  • Willem
  • Ian
  • Alan
  • Dylann
  • Grievous Body Charm
  • brian t
  • Moke
  • ACG
  • Criswhit
  • Falco
  • Camargo, California
  • Andy M
  • Max_Power
  • Andy McConnell
  • Zev
  • ej
  • Exsanguinator
  • Per Svolsbru
  • Dennis S.

Contest #114 answer: Large Hadron Collider

Well, I underestimated you all. I thought this one would be harder to guess, as there are hardly any visible clues of the object which this contest points at. It is the Large Hadran Collider, situated at the French-Swiss border near Geneva. Built in commission of Cern, it is a 26.5 km in circumference (that is 16.5 miles, for the non-SI speaking) and located at a depth of 50-150 m (160-500 ft).


It actually successfully fired the first collision beam in the week I published this contest.

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There is a dedicated LHC website at Cern with lots of interesting information.

To get an idea of the sheer size and the location of the supporting buildings, just download this kmz file and open it in Google Earth. It has some 3D renderings of the buildings and an animation of the colliding beams.

Those who found the higgs-boson particle:

  • David S
  • David
  • Dennis S.
  • Milosh, Serbia
  • brian t
  • Andy McConnell
  • Michael T
  • Max_Power
  • ej
  • Willem