{"id":65615,"date":"2026-09-10T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/?guid=0229fa5687bf6f9576f1bc51222eecc5"},"modified":"2026-09-10T19:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T19:40:24","slug":"iconic-star-trek-filming-location-spotted-from-space-space-photo-of-the-day-for-sept-10-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2026\/09\/10\/iconic-star-trek-filming-location-spotted-from-space-space-photo-of-the-day-for-sept-10-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Iconic Star Trek filming location spotted from space | Space photo of the day for Sept. 10, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n
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\"Captain<\/p><\/div><\/div>

This new satellite image shows Vasquez Rocks in southern California, where Captain Kirk once faced off against the Gorn. <\/span>(Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory\/Michala Garrison\/CBS via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Decades ago, Captain Kirk faced off against the Gorn on the uncharted desert planet Metron. But as we can see in new satellite<\/u><\/a> imagery from NASA, that mysterious rocky world can actually be found right here on Earth in California. <\/p>

What is it?<\/h2>

In this new image <\/u><\/a>captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASA's Landsat 9<\/u><\/a> satellite, you can see the wide variety of rock and vegetation in the area around Vasquez Rocks Natural Area County Park in southern California. <\/p>

The 25-million-year-old Vasquez Rocks is a magnificent natural area with an incredible range of unique, large rocks jutting out of the ground. In this false-color image, you can see the area in shortwave-infrared and near-infrared wavelengths that show the differences in vegetation across the landscape. <\/p>

And this location hides some amazing history. Not only is Vasquez Rocks home to incredible rock formations and desert vegetation, it is also where Captain Kirk fought the Gorn<\/u><\/a> in Star Trek the Original Series<\/u><\/a>. It's not a surprise the series chose this location for its infamous fight scene (among many other Trek scenes), as the massive, sun-bleached boulders pointing to the sky and barren landscape give it a distinctly alien feel. <\/p>

\"A<\/p><\/div><\/div>

A satellite view of the are around Vasquez Rocks. <\/span>(Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory\/Michala Garrison)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Why is it incredible?<\/h2>

While the rocky landscape of Vasquez Rocks is firmly fixed here on Earth, it has consistently made history as the backdrop to a whole host of iconic science fiction moments. <\/p>

Indeed, Star Trek is one as Vasquez Rocks has been used for filming in a whole host of Trek episodes. It was even Spock's home world of Vulcan in the films Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek (2009).<\/p>

But beyond Star Trek, the site has been used for filming sci-fi classics like Galaxy Quest<\/u><\/a>, Battlestar Galactica and Planet of the Apes in addition to a whole host of cowboy movies and more. <\/p>

It turns out that right here on Earth, we can find perfectly good alien worlds. <\/p>\n <\/article>\n \n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This new satellite image shows Vasquez Rocks in southern California, where Captain Kirk once faced off against the Gorn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":849,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[404,2321,477],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-earth","category-solar-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/849"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65615"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65938,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65615\/revisions\/65938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}