FE Meme
At What Altitude Does Everything Turn Into CGI?
#52: There must be some exact altitude where real space photography stops and everything above becomes CGI, so orbital and deep-space imagery cannot be trusted.
The Meme
Impact-font macro over a satellite-above-Earth composite: "AT WHAT EXACT ALTITUDE DOES EVERYTHING TURN INTO CGI?"
Why It Spreads
The macro asks for an exact altitude where photography flips to CGI, which sounds like a fair cutoff question rather than a claim to defend. Pair that rhetorical line with a glossy orbital composite and viewers feel they have spotted a hidden switch from real cameras to studio renders, without ever naming how radar, radio, or amateur observers track objects above that imaginary line.
What It Gets Wrong
The macro asks "AT WHAT EXACT ALTITUDE DOES EVERYTHING TURN INTO CGI?" as if tracking data vanishes above a mystery cutoff, but radar, laser ranging, and amateur SDR receivers log spacecraft continuously from the ISS near 400 km through geostationary orbit near 36000 km with no render switch. Deep-space probes on open trajectories return imagery whose geometry still matches predicted orbits night after night. A satellite-above-Earth composite is wallpaper, not an altitude survey that names a single failed observation. TestTheGlobe's Satellites Are Not Real and TestTheGlobe's Satellite Visibility walk through the observations and predictions this image skips.
The Debunk
Continuous radar, laser ranging, and amateur SDR logs predict spacecraft at altitudes from ~400 km (ISS) through geostationary orbit with no CGI switch point; that fits observation across every band the meme never names. A satellite-above-Earth composite asking for an exact altitude cutoff is inconsistent with open tracking data. Use TestTheGlobe's Satellite Visibility to compare the meme's claim with a measurable prediction.
- TestTheGlobe's Satellite Pass Watch experiment lets you log predicted ISS passes at roughly 400 km against your own sightlines, the same objects the meme implies turn into renders above an unnamed altitude.
- TestTheGlobe's Satellites Are Not Real page walks through radar fixes, laser ranging, and amateur SDR logs that place hardware at continuous altitudes with no discontinuity where imagery flips to CGI.
- The macro sits over a satellite-above-Earth composite, not a surveyed altitude profile; independent observers worldwide photograph the ISS at ~400 km with backyard telescopes, matching predicted pass times to the second.
- TestTheGlobe's ISS Footage Shows Real Zero-G: the meme never names an altitude, a switch mechanism, or a single observation that fails under orbital geometry, only a gotcha question.