Sold-out Taylor Swift concert spied from space (satellite photos)

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There were about 7,200 cars in the parking lot for the July 15 show, the imagery showed.

three photos of a stadium and its parking lot from space, showing them filling up ahead of a taylor swift concert
Satellite photos from Virginia-based company BlackSky show Empower Field at Mile High in Denver filling up ahead of a Taylor Swift concert there on July 15, 2023. (Image credit: BlackSky via Twitter)

Taylor Swift's popularity is apparent from space.

The pop icon played the second of two shows in Denver on Saturday (July 15) at Empower Field at Mile High, as part of her highly anticipated (and fully sold out) Eras Tour.

A satellite operated by Virginia-based company BlackSky snapped a series of photos of the venue on that day, showing the stadium and its parking lot filling up as showtime neared. 

"@taylorswift13 are you … Ready for it? We captured imagery from 9:36 a.m., 3:40 p.m., and 6:27 p.m. MT of the Denver stop of the #ErasTour. Now here's the #geoint stuff: Analysis estimates there were ~7,200 cars in the parking lots!" BlackSky tweeted Tuesday (July 18), in a post that shared the three photos.

Related: The top 10 views of Earth from space

BlackSky operates a constellation of Earth-observation satellites, whose data the company analyzes for a variety of customers.

"We are combining the power of our satellite constellation, which provides 60-minute revisits of the most strategic locations in the world, with an AI software platform to deliver real time alerts, data and information to decision makers across a range of industries," the company's website states.

BlackSky makes some of that information freely available, and it's often considerably more consequential than that conveyed in Tuesday's tweet (no offense to all you Swifties out there). 

For example, the company has posted on Twitter satellite photos that help the world keep tabs on Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Other private satellite operators — including ICEYE, Maxar, Planet and Capella Space — are contributing to this effort as well.

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.