It’s actually an urban myth that the great wall of China is “visible from the moon” or visible from orbit with the naked eye unless we’re accepting that using Google earth amounts to the same. The claim the Great Wall is visible has been debunked many times but is still ingrained in popular culture.
The wall is a maximum 9.1 m (30 ft) wide, and is about the same colour as the soil surrounding it. Based on the optics of resolving power (distance versus the width of the iris: a few millimetres for the human eye, meters for large telescopes) only an object of reasonable contrast to its surroundings which is 70 mi (110 km) or more in diameter would be visible to the unaided eye from the moon, whose average distance from Earth is 384,393 km.
The apparent width of the Great Wall from the moon is the same as that of a human hair viewed from 2 miles (3.2 km) away. To see the wall from the moon would require spatial resolution 17,000 times better than normal (20/20) vision. Unsurprisingly, no lunar astronaut has ever claimed to have seen the Great Wall from the moon.
A more controversial question is whether the Wall is visible from low earth orbit, an altitude of as little as 100 miles (160 km). NASA claims that it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other man-made objects. Other authors have argued that due to limitations of the optics of the eye and the spacing of photoreceptors on the retina, it is impossible to see the wall with the naked eye, even from low orbit, and would require visual acuity of 20/3 (7.7 times better than normal).
In 2001, Neil Armstrong stated about the view from Apollo 11:
I do not believe that, at least with my eyes, there would be any man-made object that I could see. I have not yet found somebody who has told me they’ve seen the Wall of China from Earth orbit. I’ve asked various people, particularly Shuttle guys, that have been many orbits around China in the daytime, and the ones I’ve talked to didn’t see it.
In October 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei stated that he had not been able to see the Great Wall of China. In response, the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a press release reporting that from an orbit between 160 and 320 km, the Great Wall is visible to the naked eye. In an attempt to further clarify things, the ESA published a picture of a part of the “Great Wall” photographed from Space. However, in a press release a week later (no longer available in the ESA’s website), they acknowledged that the “Great Wall” in the picture was actually a river…
History suggests that the great wall’s first origins can be traced as far back as the fifth or even eighth century B.C. It was during the Ming dynasty that the wall as we’ve come to recognise as a phenomena begins to be constructed..they’re a patient culture in China, but absolutely resolute to a cause and course once set.
China’s official reserves slipped to $3.18 trillion in the final quarter of 2011. The People’s Bank of China published data on Friday showing a $20.6 billion, or 0.6 percent, fall in reserves in the final three months of the year, although Beijing’s horde of foreign wealth is still by far the world’s largest. Reserves dropped in November and December, the first consecutive monthly fall since the first quarter of 2009, perhaps a sign of the impact that a falling trade surplus and an outflow of speculative funds is having on China’s capital flows.
The drop in China’s reserves may start to appease some critics who say they are a product of an economy reliant on an under-valued yuan for export-driven growth. The median forecast by economists was for China’s foreign exchange reserves to have held steady at the end of December from the end of the third quarter.
China reserves are the largest in the world, largely due to the central bank’s sterilisation of dollar inflows into the country’s closed capital account. But some analysts noted that increasing use of the yuan in trade settlements would also help slow China’s future build-up of foreign currencies.
In the third quarter of 2011, foreign exchange reserves rose just $4.2 billion to a record of $3.2 trillion. The pace was markedly slower than a $152.8 billion rise in the second quarter. ($1 = 6.3178 Chinese yuan)
And while the quarterly fall does not signal massive capital flight from China, analysts say it does argue for Beijing to further lower the amount of cash it makes banks hold as reserves to ensure sufficient market liquidity.
Foreign governments hold about 46 percent of all U.S. debt held by the public, more than $4.5 trillion. The largest foreign holder of U.S. debt is China, which owns more about $1.2 trillion in bills, notes and bonds, according to the Treasury.
Figures available in 2010 suggest China owns about 8 percent of publicly held U.S. debt. Of all the holders of U.S. debt China is the third-largest, behind only the Social Security Trust Fund’s holdings of nearly $3 trillion and the Federal Reserve’s nearly $2 trillion holdings in Treasury investments, purchased as part of its quantitative easing program to boost the economy.
To put China’s ownership of U.S. debt in perspective, it’s holding of $1.2 trillion is even larger than the amount owned by American households. U.S. citizens hold only about $959 billion in U.S. debt, according to the Federal Reserve.
Other large foreign holders of U.S. debt include Japan, which owns $912 billion; the United Kingdom, which owns $347 billion; Brazil, which holds $211 billion; Taiwan, which holds $153 billion; and Hong Kong, which owns $122 billion.
Source: FX Central Clearing Ltd, (FXCC BLOG)
http://blog.fxcc.com/is-china-beginning-its-great-unwind-from-usa-dollars/
Market Commentary by FXCC - The Creator Made Italy From Designs by Michael Angelo
“The Creator Made Italy From Designs by Michael Angelo” – Mark Twain 1835-1910
European shares and the single currency have risen on Friday after positive comments on the region’s outlook from the European Central Bank and the success of Spain’s bond auction yesterday, attention is now focused on Italy’s first debt sale of the year.
Italy sells three-year bonds along with 2018 paper, and a good result could lead to further squeeze in the difference between the rates it pays compared to German government bonds, a key measure of investor confidence. Italy’s 10-year government bond was yielding around 6.5 percent on Friday compared to levels of around 7.0 percent before the Spanish debt auction.
Italy like Spain, a focal point for investor anxiety about the euro zone, will hope to match the success of Thursday’s Spanish auction when it sells up to 4.75 billion euros of bonds this morning. The sale marks its first step in a challenging campaign of issuance for 2012.
The yield, or interest rate, on ten-year Italian government bonds has fallen further below the 7% mark ahead of a bond sale which is expected to attract a lot of demand. Yields dropped 17 basis points to 6.48%, the lowest since 9 December. Two-year bond yields plummeted 40 basis points to 3.98%, the lowest since September.
Hopes have also grown that Greece could reach a bond swap deal with private creditors to reduce its debt load by the end of next week, with a formal offer possible by early February, a finance ministry source said told Reuters on Thursday.
Market Overview
The euro touched a one-week high of $1.2879 before Italy sells bonds due in 2014 and 2018. The 17-nation currency is heading for a 1.1 percent climb versus the dollar this week, the first weekly advance since the period ended Dec. 2.
Stock markets in Europe have been buoyant in the early morning part of the session. The FTSE had climbed more than 40 points to 5703, a 0.7% rise, in the first minutes of trading. Germany’s Dax was 1% higher, France’s CAC and Spain’s Ibex ross 0.9% while Italy’s FTSE MIB advanced initially by 1.3%, ahead of a three-year bond auction.
Banks were the main risers. In London, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group, along with miners Kazakhmys and Vedanta, led gains on the FTSE.
Brent crude oil was seen rising above $112 a barrel due to worries over supply disruption from Nigeria and receding fears over the eurozone debt crisis. Brent crude is now trading at $112.15 after rising more than $1 to $112.50 a barrel.
Market snapshot at 10.10am GMT (UK time)
Asian markets had mixed fortunes in the overnight early morning session. The Nikkei closed up 1.36%, the Hang Seng closed up 0.57% but the CSI closed down 1.68%. The ASX 200 closed up 0.36%. European bourse indices have risen in the morning session due to increased sentiment and perception that the debt crisis is in fact manageable. Eyes are on a successful Italian bond auction.
The STOXX 50 is up 0.59%, the FTSE is up 0.32%, the CAC up 0.81% and the DAX up 0.53%. The IBEX is continuing its moderate recovery over recent days to be up currently by 1.07%. ICE Brent crude is currently up 0.76% whilst Comex gold is down $3.6 an ounce. The SPX equity index future is positive, up 0.4%, suggesting Wall St will open in positive territory and continue its modest weekly rally.
Economic calendar releases to be mindful of during (or at the opening of) the NY session
13:30 US – Import Price Index December
13:30 US – Trade Balance November
14:55 US – U. of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Jan.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg yielded a median forecast of -$45.0 billion for the USA trade balance. The previous figure showed a figure of -$43.5 billion, the trade deficit is expected to deepen. Any significant departure from this in the actual reported figure could result in high volatility in the USD.
Economists surveyed yielded a median forecast of 71.5, compared with the previous release of 69.9 for the Michigan confidence numbers.
Source: FX Central Clearing Ltd, (FXCC BLOG)
http://blog.fxcc.com/the-creator-made-italy-from-designs-by-michael-angelo/
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