The Lochnagar Mine Crater — Visible from 438 Miles in Space

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The Crater on a July 1st Commemoration Day

On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, a  charge of 60,000 lbs (26.8 tons) of ammonal explosive was blown at 7:28 a.m leaving behind the Lochnagar Crater, an impression 70 feet deep and 330 feet wide. It was a bloody day. Though British troops gained control of the crater, surviving German troops fired at the soldiers who advanced toward them.

From Space

A century on, the crater is visible from high in the sky. It appears as a black dot close to the town of Albert in this image, created by NASA’s Earth Observatory in October using the Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. The Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers (438 miles). It’s a testament to the long life of war—in memory and the land itself.

Click HERE to see some details about the action around the crater on 1 July 1916.