Peru: Infrared and multispectral images reveal pyramid

[G_j]

Infrared and multispectral images reveal 9,000-square-mile (*typo, should read, square-feet)
structure

Discovery
By Rossella Lorenzi
Oct 5, 2008

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27010998/

A new remote sensing technology has peeled away layers of mud and rock near Peru's Cahuachi desert to reveal an ancient adobe pyramid, Italian researchers announced on Friday at a satellite imagery conference in Rome

Nicola Masini and Rosa Lasaponara of Italy's National Research Council (CNR) discovered the pyramid by analyzing images from the satellite Quickbird, which they used to penetrate the Peruvian soil

The researchers investigated a test area along the river Nazca.
Covered by plants and grass, it was about a mile away from Cahuachi's archaeological site, which contains the remains of what is believed to be the world's biggest mud city

Via Quickbird, Masini and colleagues collected hi-resolution infrared and multispectral images.
After the researchers optimized the images with special algorithms, the result was a detailed visualization of a pyramid extending over a 9,000-square-mile area

The discovery doesn't come as a surprise to archaeologists, since some 40 mounds at Cahuachi are believed to contain the remains of important structures

"We know that many buildings are still buried under Cahuachi's sands, but until now, it was almost impossible to exactly locate them and detect their shape from an aerial view," Masini told Discovery News.
"The biggest problem was the very low contrast between adobe, which is sun-dried earth, and the background subsoil"

[ThePhoenix]

1. Ancient Peru Pyramid Spotted By Satellite

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x44704

:)

[ContinentalOp]

3. Haha, someone in that thread noticed the same error I did. I guess it was pretty noticable. -nt-

[ContinentalOp]

2. How does 300 feet by 328 feet add up to 9000 square miles?

9000 square miles would be 250,905,600,000 square feet, or a pyramid that was about 500,000 feet on each side! Or almost 95 miles on each side!

[amdezurik]

4. wondering if it is a translation error?

From closer reading it looks like the area detailed covered 9,000 square miles, not the pyramid itself. That was within that area.