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.