(CNN) -- It's been nearly three weeks since
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished. Malaysian authorities say the plane went
down in the southern Indian Ocean. Search efforts are concentrated in
an area about 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) off Australia's west coast.
What's the latest?
The Japanese government announced that one of its
intelligence satellites spotted some objects Wednesday. Earlier,
Thai officials said one of their satellites located 300 objects that could be
linked to the missing plane. And airborne searches have been suspended for
Thursday due to poor weather.
What's in the latest satellite photos?
The Thai image, shot Monday, shows a collection of objects
ranging in size from 6 feet (2 meters) to 50 feet (15 meters), according to
Thailand's Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency.
They were spotted about 125 miles (201 kilometers) away from
where a French satellite captured a floating group of 122 objects Sunday.
The Japanese image shows 10 objects, the largest of which is
square and about 13 feet by 26 feet (4 meters to 8 meters), according
to the Japanese Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office.
Like the other recent satellite sightings, the objects are
about 1,550 miles off western Australia.
Could these objects be plane debris?
It's certainly possible, but we won't know for sure until
one of the ships combing the region hauls some of the objects up and examines
them firsthand, experts say. And that's proving to be tough. The objects may
well be drifting in swift ocean currents, and experts say some of what we're
seeing could be an optical illusion.
For instance, they could be just whitecapped waves, CNN
aviation analyst Jeff Wise said.
Stephen Wood, a former CIA analyst, said the number and size
of the objects in the latest image also raises questions about whether they
could be related to the plane.
"If you see something floating that's 60 feet across,
that could be a big chunk of fuselage," he said. "But if you have 10
pieces that are 60 feet across, that would indicate that they're not from the
plane because the plane has only so much stuff in it."
It seems like we always hear about these satellite photos
a few days after they were taken. Why?
Australian and Thai authorities have said it takes a few
days to go through the images, analyze them and send them along to Malaysian
authorities. The area being scanned is awfully large, after all, and analyzing
the images for interesting objects can be a painstaking process.
You said the flights were called off Thursday?
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority suspended airborne
searches before noon Thursday due to poor weather.
A spokesman for the U.S. Navy, which is helping look for
wreckage, said conditions over the search zone were terrible, with almost zero
visibility, clouds reaching down to the surface of the water, and severe
turbulence and icing.
Ships assigned to the search will continue their work
despite the rough weather, the authority said.
Australian officials coordinating the search hope to resume
flights Friday.
How many countries are involved in search efforts?
Malaysia is coordinating the search, which involves crews
from six countries. Australia is leading the effort, based out of Perth, with
China, New Zealand, the United States, South Korea and Japan contributing
aircraft. China has also sent ships to help the search effort.
How are the families of those on board?
Family members are anguished as they wait for answers.
One-third of the plane's passengers were Chinese, and Malaysian authorities'
announcement Monday that families should give up hope that their loved ones
were alive angered many Chinese.
"My heart can't handle it. I don't want to hurt my
children," Cheng Li Ping told CNN as she waited in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
for evidence about what happened to her husband.
