Is this a cat or a satellite view of the Cape Breton Highlands in Nova Scotia? It's hard to tell.
Amanda Kooser/CNET
I love looking at satellite images of Earth, seeing the craggy landforms and ocean waters from far above. On Wednesday, the Canadian Space Agency tweeted a satellite view of the Cape Breton Highlands in Nova Scotia in an attempt to highlight the region's geology and history. Instead, CSA managed to highlight how much the area looks like a cat.
CSA followed the original tweet with a new one, saying, "So apparently, quite a few of you see a cat in this satellite image. Does it mean it should have been named Cat Breton instead of Cape Breton? Help us sort out this confusion please." Good job, internet.
So apparently, quite a few of you see a cat in this satellite image. Does it mean it should have been named Cat Breton instead of Cape Breton? Help us sort out this confusion please.
— Canadian Space Agency (@csa_asc) February 23, 2022
Credit and full description of this image: pic.twitter.com/WehKsZTADo
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Lost Art Cartography artist Marcel Morin processed the original image, taken in April 2021, Percetakan Brosur from the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite. "This windswept, snow-covered boreal plateau is surrounded by steep-sided ravines, fast-flowing rivers and waterfalls pouring off escarpments," CSA said.
To be fair, the image looks very much like a cat chilling on its side and extending a single paw outward in a stretch. But we can appreciate both the feline resemblance and the natural beauty of the region at the same time. It's a good earthly companion piece for this tiny rock sculpture that looks like a cat on Mars.
Cats really do live rent-free in our heads.