LandSat Picture of Washington, DC

by NASA [The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration]

December 22, 1996

Notes on the photograph. These are subjective notes, if you do not like references to the National Football League, Redskins & Cowboys, etc., you may not wish to read on.

In the center of Washington, D.C. is the Mall, with the Capitol Building on the far eastern edge, and the Lincoln Memorial with the Reflecting Pool at the far western edge, just before coming to the Arlington Memorial Bridge. In this rendition the waters are all so dark that it is difficult to see any details in it-- we are endeavoring to get another rendition for that.

Depending on the cropping of the particular view, this is below the center of the picture. If you crop your viewer so the edge of each side is approximately as wide as your screen, and place your viewpoint at the bottom of the picture, the center of this picture is just about the center of the Mall: with the Capitol Building as its most outstanding feature just to the right, and the bulls-eye about an inch to the right of that is RFK stadium where the National Football League's Washington Redskins played their last game at that stadium today, by scalping the Cowboys. [No comments about PC being political correctitude, please, the quote is only applicable in this context.]

The bridge just to the right of RFK [Robert Francis Kennedy] is East Capitol Street and the one just below is Pennsylvania Ave; the Anacostia River flows under them to join the Potomac River. The cities of Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia, are across to the southwest, more or less divided by the visible I-395 of the Interstate Highway System, which is mostly toll-free, just as a majority of the Internet was until it was sold to the companies running the telephone systems a few years ago after being built and paid for by the government[s].

Bethesda, Maryland is just across the Potomac from Arlington in a clear division from Washington proper.

The southernmost points of land just before the rivers join are Ft. McNair in light grays, and East Potomac Park in greens, and the George Mason Bridge [of the Mason-Dixon Line]. Just across and to the south of the twin bridges is the Washington National Airport with visible runways.

End of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration