Satellite Photo of Easter Island, South Pacific
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About Easter Island
Called the Navel of the World - and known to its native people as Rapa Nui - Easter Island is home to over a half-dozen volcanoes and more than 880 statues called moai (pronounced mo-eye). Part of Chilean territory, Easter Island is one of the most remote locations in the world that is still inhabited by humans. Ranging from just a few feet to more than 30 feet tall, the enigmatic statues weigh up to 150 tons. They were hewn from volcanic material from quarries on the slopes of the Rano Raraku volcano sometime after 300 AD. While nearly all of the moai face toward the interior of the island, seven moai at Aku Akivi, not shown in the image, face towards the ocean and a point on the horizon where the sun sets during the equinox. Explorer, Captain James Cook gave the island its modern name in 1774.
About the Easter Island Ruins Satellite Image
GeoEye's IKONOS satellite took this image of eastern Easter Island December 6, 2003. Photo credit: GeoEye
- Date Acquired:06-DEC-2003
- Upper Left Latitude: -27.0283
- Upper Left Longitude:-109.3694
- Upper Right Latitude: -27.0243
- Upper Right Longitude: -109.2397
- Lower Right Latitude: -27.1363
- Lower Right Longitude: -109.2396
- Lower Left Latitude: -27.1401
- Lower Left Longitude: -109.3694
- Overall Cloud Score: 30
- Cloud Score - Upper Left: 22
- Cloud Score - Upper Right: 21
- Cloud Score - Lower Left:56
- Cloud Score - Lower Right: 24
- Satellite Tilt Angle: 60.669
- Sun Azimuth: 82.3082
- Sun Elevation: 69.4054
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