Using Yahoo maps and satellite images I keep running into these weird circle things way out in the middle of nowhere in Southern Egypt:
http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&lat=22.551562&lon...669338&mag=5&zoom=13

What in the world is this? There doesn't appear to be any substantial civilization for many miles around. I'm rather confused.

That is the results of using a center-pivot irrigation system. There is very CLEARLY civilization in the immediate area!

Here's an aerial photo of a bunch of them in Kansas:

http://www.airphotona.com/image.asp?imageid=212

They're about a half-mile in diameter.

As denverd0n noted, they're irrigation circles.

Here's another:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17006

Tevnon, you can see some closer aerial pictures of irrigation circles here: http://virtualglobetrotting.com/category/land/farms_irrigation_circles/

And a cool pic of them here: http://www.discoverlife.org/IM/EL_DP/0010/mx/Agricultur...aerial,EL_DP1052.jpg

Ah, O.K.
That makes sense. I pretty much figured it would be something simple like that.
Anyone have any idea what they would be growing way out in the desert? There may be civilization around somewhere, but there aren't, like, visible buildings or metropolitan regions in that area. It doesn't strike me as practical to grow your cash crops miles and miles from the nearest practical market. I would rather more expect to see something like this in the areas near (but not too near) an obvious population center, or at very least by a large highway to make for easy transport. Well, maybe those things are there and just not showing up for some reason.
I'm just curious.

There are a few roads in the area, and an airstrip to the northeast.

Who knows why it's there? Maybe some kind of experimental govt ag project, to get crops growing in the desert, or something.

The closest water source probably has lot to do with the choice of location.

22-30 N, 23 E in Egypt.. those things aren't rare.

Clearly, they have some excellent dowsers....

I don't know about weird circles in the Sahara, but when I was younger I wound up going in circles in Caesar's Palace, trying to find the right exit to where I'd parked my motorcycle, and I kept coming back to the same, wrong exit. May have had something to do with all the beer. Anyway, never had that problem in the Sahara or any of the other casinos.

I have flown from Phoenix to Pittsbugh a couple of times and from Phoenix to Washington state. As soon as I saw the picture in the link I recognized what it was. It is absolutely center-fed irrigation systems such as leased to farmers by outfits like Rain-for-Rent. As far as crops, the location in Egypt gives that away. As far back as the Middle Ages, Egypt had a very highly prized crop that was deemed necessary in medieval Europe, and still is grown there to this day. The crop is cotton. We also grow a lot of cotton in Arizona, and if you GoogleEarth Arizona, you will see similar circles in the Arizona desert.

Wow that brings back memories, Lord Froggie. I remeber when there was nothing but cotton fields from 35th Ave all the way out to Luke AFB. Back then, no circular irrigation, just ditches and hoses.

Actually, that brings back a UFO sighting I had while on the road through those cotton fields about 35 years ago, but it's a long and strange story that I probably wouldn't tell very well in print. Turned out to be terrestrial, anyway.