Perth's 'hovering car'
I've transposed the article, so it wont totally expire!
Eagle eyed users of the satellite imaging service Google Earth have spotted what appears to be a car hovering above the ground in a suburban Perth car park. The photo is of a car park just off Honour Avenue at Point Walter in the affluent south western suburb of Bicton. The spot is a popular picnic location on the banks of the Swan River.
A number of cars are shown in parking bays and the vehicle in question appears to hovering above the ground nearby, its shadow clearly visible beneath.
Google Earth images are mostly taken by satellites - and sometimes by aircraft - within the past three years and there are no "live" images on the site.
The intriguing image was reported last week by the British IT news website, The Register.
One the the website's readers subsequently visited the very spot and sent in photos showing that there were no unusual structures there that could explain the phenomenon.
Other sceptical readers wrote in insisting the image was an optical illusion and was either a bus shelter, a pergola, a hole in the ground. One said it was obviously "Harry Potter and his friends on vacation".
Google Earth, launched last year, allows users to zoom across the planet and drill down to a height of about 300 metres. The program also has "tilt" function to give a side or angled view of an area or object.
Cars and boats are clearly visible at this level and in some areas, where even higher definition images are available, people can be seen.
The Google service has spawned a group of devoted followers who scour the satellite images for strange sightings. Users in the past have spotted a Stealth bomber parked on a runway in California, commercial planes in mid-flight and an image of what appears to be a ship on its side in a river estuary in Scotland.
The service has been critcised for giving terrorists a bird's eye view of sensitive areas, such as the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney and Parliament House in Canberra.
It has also given stickybeaks an opportunity to peer into neighbourhood backyards and the home of the rich and famous.
(The hovering car can also been seen in this image on the Google Local service. People who have downloaded the free Google Earth software can see the car image here.)
