The Vancouver Sun reports in its Thursday edition UrtheCast provided photographic evidence of the destruction by Islamic State militants of an ancient temple in Syria within three hours of receiving a request from the United Nations. The Sun's Tara Carman writes UrtheCast, which takes pictures from space, was asked to photograph the site of the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel in Palmyra on Monday, amid widespread speculation it had been destroyed in a blast. The company has two cameras mounted on the outside of the International Space Station and two satellites orbiting Earth. It also takes photos for governments as well as private clients such as agriculture or forestry companies. The company will also launch a Web platform in the fall that will allow users to see a picture of their house at various points in time and stream it over the Internet. The Syrian temple, dating back to 32 AD, showed a unique merging of ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman architecture. It was dedicated to the Semitic god Bel and was considered one of the most important religious buildings of the first century. Palmyra was an important caravan city of the Roman Empire. Not mentioned is what, if anything, the UN paid UrtheCast.