Old Soviet Death-Ray Gun, Kazakhstan [PIC]

Thu, Oct 30, 2008

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death ray gun
Image: zerega

Dominating the Kazakhstan skyline, like a giant death-ray gun from a sci-fi movie is a decrepit, rusting radioastronomy tower. The photograph was taken at Tien Shan Astronomical Observatory (TSAO) near the Great Almaty Lake, which sits at 2800m altitude.

It’s obviously a good place for stargazing as there are three observatories in total in the Almaty region. As well as the TSAO (which thankfully isn’t all rusty) there’s also an Institute of Astrophysics on Kamenskoye plateau and the Assy-Turgen Observatory, which is located about 150 km to the north-east of the area. Budding astronomists can visit the observatories to study the life beyond the stars, while hikers looking for an adrenaline rush can tackle the nearby snowy peaks of the Tien Shan Mountains. And visitors in the winter months will be treated to great views of the constellations of Orion, Taurus, Gemini and planets of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.

Source 1, 2

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constellations, death ray gun, kazakhstan, observatory, sci-fi, soviet, star gazing

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This post was written by:

Linda McCormick - who has written 175 posts on Environmental Graffiti.

Linda is a writer and editor, currently based in London. Growing up in N Ireland, she craved sunnier climes so set off around the world, forever chasing the sun. On her travels she discovered she was much more passionate about the environment than she realised – although never quite got the whole tree-hugging thing – and has always had a penchant for the unconventional and creative side of life, so working at Environmental Graffiti suits her just fine.

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1 Trackbacks For This Post

My Natural Furniture » Blog Archive » Soviet Death Ray Gun Found in Kazakhstan Says:
December 15th, 2008 at 6:34 am
[...] Actually, it only looks like a Soviet death ray gun. The rusting structure is actually part of the Tien Shan Astronomical Observatory near the Great Almaty Lake, Kazakhstan. Environmental Graffiti blog has more: Link [...]

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