THORNTON, Colo. — In 1997, I accepted a position with Space Imaging, headquartered 15 miles north of Denver, Colo., in the city of Thornton. Space imaging is a remote sensing company that collects and sells aerial and satellite imagery of the earth for mapping and resource management purposes.

My position is vehicle payload specialist with responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the Optical Sensor Assembly, or telescope and associated electronics, flying on board the IKONOS satellite. IKONOS is a one-meter-resolution imaging satellite that orbits the earth 15 times a day at an altitude of approximately 700 kilometers (435 miles), traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole as it descends across the sunlit face of the earth.

As part of my responsibilities, I review images to determine the performance of the telescope and electronics and the quality and accuracy of the imagery. On separate occasions I was able to identify the San Diego California and the Sydney Australia temples.

Recently, I evaluated an image that was collected on Sept. 25 at 10:26:45 a.m. of Salt Lake City, shown on this page. This particular image spans 13 kilometers east to west from the Salt Lake International Airport to the University of Utah and 11 kilometers north to south from North Salt Lake to 1300 South. Enlargements of this image are shown on this page.

The quality of the IKONOS satellite imagery is high enough to show details as small as 1 meter. For instance, in the view of the nine-block area surrounding Temple Square, it is possible to identify two separate and distinct objects just to the right (east) of the fountain that is located between the Salt Lake Temple and the South Visitors Center. Having visited Temple Square many times, I know those two objects to be the statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

Earlier this year, my family and I were able to attend a session of general conference in April when the Conference Center was first used. I was very impressed by its size from the outside as well as inside. But when I saw the image of Salt Lake City that showed the Conference Center and its size and placement with respect to the Assembly Hall and Tabernacle, my testimony was strengthened of the purpose for which President Gordon B. Hinckley stated that it was built to meet the current and future needs of the ever-growing Church. I could just see it in the image.

I enjoy my job and feel privileged to have this unique perspective of the world and the new Conference Center.

Having grown up in the Salt Lake area, I have witnessed many of the changes that have occurred in the vicinity of Temple Square.

From time to time the Church News receives correspondence that is suitable for publication in the writer's own words. The following is such an account, from Howard Sain Bowen, a high priest in Niwot, Colo., and member of the Longmont 1st Ward, Longmont Colorado Stake.