"Jeff R." wrote in message
...
I happened upon these two rather impressive blown highlights in Google
Earth, at:

150°59'49.49"E 33°49'0.68"S

(and a hundred metres or so north of that) and and just wondering... Is
this common in Google's sat shots? Anyone seen others?

Didn't the goddam astronaut check his histogram before posting?

It actually begs another set of questions...
My scanner frequently blooms just like those shots if I'm scanning highly
reflective items, but my digital cameras don't bleed in a linear fashion
like that - just a big white patch.

Is Google using a huge flatbed scanner in its satellites?

--
Jeff R.

Not really. As another mentioned the closeup photos are shot from planes.
And there is a plexiglas window. So when they get bright reflections from a
surface (such as a body of water when the sun is low and in the general
direction that the camera is pointing) the plexi window tends to turn it
into a streak. I have seen that in some of the higher res photos you can
spot some of the blurry imperfections and dirt on the window. I have even
seen (in some of the earliest images) a reflection of items in the cockpit
behind the camera.

Randy B.