Satellite Photo of Chichen Itza, Mexico
Click the thumbnail to further enlarge the image.
About Chichen Itza
In a spectacular show of shadow and light, a shadow representing the Feathered Serpent god Kukulkan slides down the northern stairway of Chichen Itza during sunset of the equinoxes and then vanishes. The square, stepped pyramid, built by Mayans in about 1000 to 1200 AD also has axes that orient with the rising point of the sun at the summer solstice and setting point during the winter solstice.
Chichen Itza was a major city for the Mayan people beginning in about 600 AD. Tourists still flock to the site to climb the temple steps.
Many think the pyramid also serves as a calendar. Each of the four faces of the pyramid has a stairway with 91 steps. With the addition of a shared step forming a platform at the top, this totals 365, the number of days in a year. The stairways also divide the nine terraces on each side into 18 segments, representing the 18 months of the Mayan calendar.
About the Chichen Itza Satellite Image
GeoEye's IKONOS satellite took this image of Chichen Itza March 5, 2001. Photo credit: GeoEye
- Date Acquired:05-MAR-2001
- Upper Left Latitude: 20.7961
- Upper Left Longitude:-88.6026
- Upper Right Latitude: 20.7958
- Upper Right Longitude: -88.4927
- Lower Right Latitude: 20.6748
- Lower Right Longitude: -88.4928
- Lower Left Latitude: 20.6751
- Lower Left Longitude: -88.6024
- Overall Cloud Score: 33
- Cloud Score - Upper Left: 24
- Cloud Score - Upper Right: 82
- Cloud Score - Lower Left:9
- Cloud Score - Lower Right: 19
- Satellite Tilt Angle: 83.1243
- Sun Azimuth: 134.2786
- Sun Elevation: 54.226
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