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Satellites are so good they can catch you waterskiing from space

Talk about high definition. After watching a historical archaeological site in Greece with satellites in space, the folks at UrtheCast spotted a modern day activity: a waterskier swerving back and forth behind a speeding boat.

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UrtheCast's Iris camera, which shoots in full color and ultra HD 4k video, snapped this video from about 250 miles up on the International Space Station.

This particular satellite image of the Acropolis of Lindos — an archaeological site in Greece — was so good that John Ross, an UrtheCast image processing operator, was able to detect the waterskier in astonishing detail.

Here's what the original image looked like. Can you spot the skier?

UrtheCast waterskiier original video
UrtheCast

Probably not, but if you zoom in, you can see what looks like a white "V" in the body of water.

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Urthecast_water_skiier_an
UrtheCast

And if you look even closer, you can see the little line swerving back and forth behind the boat. That's the waterskier's wake.

Scientists have been snapping detailed photographs of Earth from the sky since the 1960s and 1970s, when they replaced older black and white aerial photographs with more advanced technologies. It was at this point that they moved cameras from airplanes to satellites.

Scientists use space-bound satellites to monitor many changes to the surface of our planet, including the rate of ice loss on the Greenland ice sheet and how much land moves during major earthquakes. Their resolution is only getting better and better. The newest US spy satellites can even zoom in on someone's cell phone or head.

And you thought your flat screen TV was sharp.

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Check out more of UrtheCast's incredibly detailed photos from space in their gallery here.

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