Picture of the Week—Lake Disappointment

The colors in this picture remind me of Vincent van Gogh, but it’s not a painting

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The colors in this picture remind me of Vincent van Gogh, but it’s not a painting. This is a satellite photo of Lake Disappointment in Western Australia. The ephemeral lake was discovered in 1897 by a thirsty man searching for fresh water. He must have been incredibly disappointed to find that the creeks he was following led to a large, salty, undrinkable lake.

This photo, from the USGS Earth as Art 2 collection of satellite imagery, was taken on January 31, 2000 by the ASTER instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite.

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