Google Maps is home to many unusual sights, from strange pentagrams in Kazakhstan to a parked UFO in Romania. However, a Reddit user caught one of the rarest images ever: A flying stealth bomber!
Although the B-2 Spirit plane could fly at 1,010 kilometers per hour, it was caught on Google Maps as it was speeding through a remote area of Missouri. The image was spotted by Reddit user Hippowned. Naturally, the image is a bit blurry and has some red, green, and blue streaks as well, which are the result of the satellites’ image capture method.
Google Maps and its software-based companion Google Earth collect their images from a variety of sources. This image is said to have been taken from Maxar Technologies’ satellite imagery.
Rather than focusing light on a sensor like conventional cameras, satellites measure the intensity of certain wavelengths of light (such as red, green, and blue), which are then combined to create a single image. The reason for the appearance of these colors in the image is due to this process.
This isn’t the first time a stealth bomber has been spotted on Google Maps; It was previously spotted parked on the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base, the current home of the B-2 Spirit. However, in this image, he is seen flying for the first time.