ID Large lit ground object in KY/TN?

[Tony]

Here's the story: we were flying American Airlines from St louis to RDU
(Raleigh/Durham) last night (12/27, about 9:30 CT. About half way
through the flight I noticed a large shape outlined by lights, oriented
east to west. The lit outline looked like this.


*************************
* *
* *
* *
* *
***************************

(connect the dots)

The point was to the east, the southern part (below the point) looked
bigger than the part north of the point. It was to the east/northeast
of a sizable town and looked to be about the size of small town, there
were no lights visible within the shape so it probably wasn't a mall or
the like.

I'd guess it was near Bowling Green KY, but I could be 100s of miles
off.

Like most pilots here, I can usually identify objects on the ground,
but this one has me puzzled. Are any local pilots able to identify it?

Thanks

[John Gaquin]

"Tony" > wrote in message

> Here's the story: we were flying American Airlines from St louis to RDU

Sounds like you were looking at a prison complex. I used to instruct years
ago here in Mass in an area with two distinct prison complexes fairly close
to one another,and your description fits the bill.. Based on a quick bit of
research, I'd guess you were looking at the Green River Correctional Complex
in Central City, KY, about 45 miles NW of Bowling Green.

[Bob Moore]

"John Gaquin" >wrote

> I'd guess you were looking at the Green River Correctional
> Complex in Central City, KY, about 45 miles NW of Bowling Green.

Google-Earth confirms that!

Bob Moore

[John Clonts]

>> I'd guess you were looking at the Green River Correctional
>> Complex in Central City, KY, about 45 miles NW of Bowling Green.
>Google-Earth confirms that!

Coordinates please? I looked at Central City and didn't see anything
such as Tony describes...

[Dan Foster]

In article . com>, John Clonts > wrote:
>>> I'd guess you were looking at the Green River Correctional
>>> Complex in Central City, KY, about 45 miles NW of Bowling Green.
>>Google-Earth confirms that!
>
> Coordinates please? I looked at Central City and didn't see anything
> such as Tony describes...

I do.

Go to: http://maps.google.com
Enter as search terms: green river correctional complex, central city, ky
Click on 'Search'
Site is flagged as point 'A'
Zoom in a few levels (2 or 3)

It's NE of the city. Pretend you're looking at a pentagon that's also
pointing NE.

One of the two 'top' sides of the pentagon is surrounded by a road; that
accounts for lighting along that side. The other top side appears to be
surrounded by water, and is probably why there were not a continuous
unbroken string of lights there.

Google Maps reports the Lat/Lon (of what I think is the entrance to the
property or the road that leads to it?) as 37.30 deg N, 87.12 deg W.

-Dan

[Bob Moore]

"John Clonts" >wrote
> Coordinates please? I looked at Central City and didn't see
> anything such as Tony describes...

N 87 degrees, 06 minutes, 50.64 seconds
W 37 degrees, 18 minutes, 53.25 seconds

Bob Moore