Google Earth, the more detailed version of google maps, have apparently helped the researchers to view some weird structures on the Earth’s surface. It compiles images from various sources, from satellites in geosynchronous orbit that snap low-resolution photos from tens of thousands of miles above Earth to satellites closer to Earth that capture hi-resolution images. Here is a list of strangest sites captured on Earth:

1 – Sprawling Swastika

Credit: Image copyright DigitalGlobe, courtesy Google Earth

Across northern Kazakhstan in Central Asia, researchers discovered more than 50 geoglyphs including swastika symbol created from timber, dating back to 2000 years.

2 – Weird Wheels

Google Earth has spied some strange old artistry, such as the wheel shaped structures, dating back to about 8500 years, even older than the Peru’s Nazca Lines. The wheels vary in their design, with some showing spokes that radiate from the center, others with just one or two bars. Some of these spoked designs seem to be positioned in a way that aligns with sunrise on the winter solstice.

3 – Mysterious Pyramids

Credit: Google Earth via Google Earth Anomalies

Google Earth has detected dozens of anomalies in Egypt. Some believe they are unexcavated pyramids, but what is debatable is, if they represent natural structures or artificial.

4 – Phantom Island

Credit: via Google Earth

In 2012, a group of Australian researchers, came across a black polygon on Google Earth, a mysterious place called Sandy island that popped up in the maps, but when the researchers sailed to that location, they found nothing.

5 – Puzzling Pentagram

Credit: Google Maps

A large pentagram, five-pointed star surrounded by a circle, located on the southern shore of the Upper Tobol Reservoir, shows up vividly on Google Earth, measuring roughly around 1,200 feet. The pentagram apparently turns out to be the outline of a park made in the form of a star; the star is marked by roadways that are now lined with trees.

6 – Desert Breath

Credit: Google Earth

A spiral portal to an alternate universe, alien message, or an ancient monument? Not far from the shores of the Red Sea, it is an art installation called Desert Breath.

7 – Lake of blood?

Credit: Cnes/Spot Image, Digital Globe, GeoEye, Google

Outside Sadr City in Iraq, lies a blood-red lake, and there is no official explanation for it’s red colour.

8 – Ant-sy Art

Credit: Google Earth

Apparently the desert around the Grand Canyon is home to red harvester ants, who can create nesting mounds spanning some 47 inches across and are typically surrounded by bare ground up to 108 square feet. The mounds might be responsible for the polka-dot pattern, however, researchers claim that on ground confirmation is still pending.

9 – Largest Island In A Lake On An Island In A Lake

Credit: Digital Globe, GeoEye, Google

A narrow, four-acre strip of land in Canada is the world’s largest island-in-a-lake-on-an-island-in-a-lake-on-an-island. The google earth helped people to come across the little “sub-sub-sub island”.

10 – The Boneyard

Credit:Google Earth

The Davis Monthan Air Force Base, also known as the Boneyard, where U.S. military planes go to die and thus, the name, is closed to the general public, but Google Earth provides a high-resolution glimpse of what’s inside. Virtually every plane the military has flown since World War II.

11 – Biggest Word?

Credit: © 2011 Google - Imagery ©2011 DigitalGlobe, Cnes/Spot Image, GeoEye, U.S. Geological Survey

A billionaire Sheikh and member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan, has had his name carved into the sandy surface of al Futaisi Island that he owns in the Persian Gulf.

12 – Alien Bunker?

Credit:Google maps

Two large diamonds surrounded by a pair of overlapping circles, found etched on the desert floor of New Mexico. Some researchers claim that the site marks a hidden bunker belonging to the Church of Scientology, however the symbols still remain a mystery.

13 – Gobi Desert

Credit: Digital Globe, Google

An array of mysterious structures and patterns etched into the surface of China’s Gobi Desert are revealed via Google Earth, which according to experts is a military base.

14 – Sizable Shipwreck

Credit: Google, Digital Globe

One of the largest shipwrecks visible on Google Earth, was the S.S. Jassim, a Bolivian cargo ferry, which ran aground and sank on the Wingate Reef off the coast of Sudan in 2003.

15 – Landlocked Lips

Credit: Digital Globe, Google

A hill formation located in Gharb, Darfur, in Sudan.

16 – Aussie UFO?

Credit: Sensis Pty Ltd, Digital Globe, Google

A strange triangle dotted  with bright lights appears in the middle of a field, appeared in Australia at coordinates 30°30’38.44″S 115°22’56.03″E, which is most likely claimed to be an antenna associated with a nearby remote-controlled wind farm.

17 – Secret military base?

Credit: Google Earth

An ex-CIA analyst, claimed that he had discovered structures in the desert around Kashgar. Some claim that this site was a part of secret military base while some believe that it was a major economic and manufacturing centre.