Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite has taken a detailed color photograph of the Olympic Park in Sydney, Australia. The spectacular image shows the site of the Olympic Games that begin on Friday, Sept. 15.

The first high-resolution satellite image ever taken of an Olympic site. Photo: spaceimaging.com

This first one-meter resolution image of Sydney was collected by Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite, which travels four miles per-second in an orbit 423 miles above Earth. It is the first high-resolution satellite image ever taken of an Olympic site. The image showcases the stunning features of the 2000 Olympic Park, located just off Homebush Bay about nine miles or 14 kilometers west of downtown Sydney. Olympic Park venues visible in the image include the Main Stadium, Superdome, Athletics Centre and warm-up arena, Aquatic Centre, and the hockey, tennis and baseball venues.

Sydney's famous Opera House on Bennelong Point and the 2000 Olympic Triathlon Course. Photo: spaceimaging.com

Space Imaging is a leading supplier of space imagery, aerial photography, mapping services, and derivative geographic information products and services. The company launched the world's first and only one-meter resolution, commercial imaging satellite, IKONOS, on Sept. 24, 1999. Space Imaging also collects and/or distributes Earth imagery from the Indian Remote Sensing satellites, the U.S. Landsat, Canada's RADARSAT and the European Space Agency's ERS satellites. The company also delivers aerial-derived imagery products collected by its own Digital Airborne Imaging System.