Burning Man 2019 Spotted From Space (Satellite Photos)

The Burning Man event site can be seen from space in satellite images released by Maxar Technologies.  (Image credit: Satellite image ©2019 Maxar Technologies)

If you couldn't make it to Burning Man this year, that's okay — you can still check out "the playa" from space. 

Maxar Technologies released satellite images on Twitter last week (Aug. 23) of the event site, known as the playa, for Burning Man, an annual art and music event that takes place on the dried out lake of the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada. The images were taken by the WorldView satellites, owned by the Maxar Company DigitalGlobe, which launched in 2007. The satellites are designed to orbit, observe and image the Earth. DigitalGlobe provides high-resolution images of Earth using its satellites WorldView-1, GeoEye-1, WorldView-2 and WorldView-3. 

Some of the traffic building up in anticipation of this year's Burning Man, as seen in satellite images released by Maxar Technologies.  (Image credit: Satellite image ©2019 Maxar Technologies)

The images show the playa being set up and readied for the event. From space, you can see people starting to gather and create "Black Rock City," a temporary, self-sufficient mock city that's the basis of the event, in anticipation of Burning Man, which began on Aug. 25. 

Related: Notre Dame Fire Damage Spotted from Space (Photo)

The traffic can already be seen days ahead of this year's Burning Man, as seen in satellite images released by Maxar Technologies.  (Image credit: Satellite image ©2019 Maxar Technologies)

The horseshoe-shape of the playa is clear in the satellite images. A closer look reveals scattered cars and even a few airplanes, likely bringing in supplies and people for the event. The few roads leading into the site are also visible, already starting to fill up with cars. Soon after these images were released these roads likely filled with vehicles making up the annual, awful traffic often reported by "burners," or event participants. 

The playa, as seen in satellite images released by Maxar Technologies.

The playa, as seen in satellite images released by Maxar Technologies.   (Image credit: Satellite image ©2019 Maxar Technologies)

Every year, tens of thousands of people trek out to the desert to create, and express themselves through art, music, costume, performance and more at Burning Man

You can see the roads leading in and out of Black Rock City in satellite images released by Maxar Technologies.   (Image credit: Satellite image ©2019 Maxar Technologies)

While Black Rock City can be seen from space, those participating in the event can also take time to admire space from Earth with projects like the Black Rock Observatory, a mobile observatory that has facilitated astronomy at events like Burning Man. 

The playa is preparing for another year of Burning Man, as seen in satellite images released by Maxar Technologies.   (Image credit: Satellite image ©2019 Maxar Technologies)

Burning Man has also been home to a number of spacey art projects, including a flaming spaceship-shaped wooden structure, the space whale and one artist even fundraised to try and bring a massive space blanket to the desert. 

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Chelsea Gohd
Senior Writer

Chelsea “Foxanne” Gohd joined Space.com in 2018 and is now a Senior Writer, writing about everything from climate change to planetary science and human spaceflight in both articles and on-camera in videos. With a degree in Public Health and biological sciences, Chelsea has written and worked for institutions including the American Museum of Natural History, Scientific American, Discover Magazine Blog, Astronomy Magazine and Live Science. When not writing, editing or filming something space-y, Chelsea "Foxanne" Gohd is writing music and performing as Foxanne, even launching a song to space in 2021 with Inspiration4. You can follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd and @foxannemusic.