Many years in the past, Captain Kirk confronted off towards the Gorn on the uncharted desert planet Metron. However as we will see in new satellite tv for pc imagery from NASA, that mysterious rocky world can truly be discovered proper right here on Earth in California.
What’s it?
In this new image captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASA’s Landsat 9 satellite tv for pc, you’ll be able to see the big variety of rock and vegetation within the space round Vasquez Rocks Pure Space County Park in southern California.
The 25-million-year-old Vasquez Rocks is a powerful pure space with an unbelievable vary of distinctive, massive rocks jutting out of the bottom. On this false-color picture, you’ll be able to see the world in shortwave-infrared and near-infrared wavelengths that present the variations in vegetation throughout the panorama.
And this location hides some superb historical past. Not solely is Vasquez Rocks house to unbelievable rock formations and desert vegetation, it is usually the place Captain Kirk fought the Gorn in Star Trek the Original Series. It’s not a surprise the series chose this location for its infamous fight scene (among many other Trek scenes), as the massive, sun-bleached boulders pointing to the sky and barren landscape give it a distinctly alien feel.
Why is it incredible?
While the rocky landscape of Vasquez Rocks is firmly fixed here on Earth, it has consistently made history as the backdrop to a whole host of iconic science fiction moments.
Indeed, Star Trek is one as Vasquez Rocks has been used for filming in a whole host of Trek episodes. It was even Spock’s home world of Vulcan in the films Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek (2009).
But beyond Star Trek, the site has been used for filming sci-fi classics like Galaxy Quest, Battlestar Galactica and Planet of the Apes in addition to a whole host of cowboy movies and more.
It turns out that right here on Earth, we can find perfectly good alien worlds.