Can you really see Russia from Alaska?
1:37 PM Thu, Oct 02, 2008 | Permalink
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What Tina Fey said: What Sarah Palin actually said: So, is it true? Can you really see Russia from Alaska? The short answer is: Yes!
Two islands -- Big Diomede, which sits in Russian territory, and Little Diomede, -- which is part of the United States are less than two and a half miles apart, which means that, on a clear day, you can see Russia from Alaska. In fact, between mid-December and June, -- when the water between the two islands freezes -- you could walk from one frozen island to the other. Palin's house is in Wasilla, AK and her office in Juneau are both on the Alaskan mainland. I asked Rhode Island Geography Alliance co-coordinator Lyn Malone if it is possible to see Russia from the mainland, and she passed the question on to the experts. "You can likely see the Kamchatka penninsula from the farthest west Aleutian Islands, but not from Wasilla!," says Todd Albert, Ph.D., Department of Geography, Bowling Green State University. Joseph J. Kerski, Ph.D, Education Manager, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., Broomfield, CO agrees: "The mainland of Alaska and the mainland of Russia are about 100 km apart, so one wouldn't be able to see from one land mass to another." 
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This from Jody Smothers Marcello, geography and social studies educator, Sitko High School, Sitko, AK:
Big and Little Diomede are the way in which most people most often think of the connections between Alaska and Russia. We often get the question in Sitka if this is where the two islands are, as the main part of Sitka is on Baranof Island, though we are connected by a bridge to Japonski Island.
To add to the discussion of seeing Russia from Alaska, Siberia can also be seen from Gambell on St. Lawrence Island.
Sitka, by the way, is the home to the a big part of the Russian American past. If you were to visit Sitka, you could see the Russian Bishop's House, St. Michael's Cathedral, and the battleground where the Tlingit and Russians fought, among other sites from our Russian American days. Do come!
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