Does Sun have a reflection on Earth? The new Google Maps1 presents an actual view of Earth, with the current position of Sun illuminating half part of Earth in real time. It is quite an exquisite view.

My question is based on the following image:



As you can see, Sun's reflection from southern Atlantic Ocean looks very charming. But does it really happen like that? If we travel far2 from Earth, can we actually see Sun's reflection or it is just something Google added for aesthetics?



1: Yes, I don't like most of its new features too, especially when they broke several of the old ones. But that's a separate discussion.

2: Although, the camera's supposed position would be close to geostationary orbit, I guess the reflection can also been seen as close as ISS or Hubble.
It's called sunglint. This can be problematic for Earth-observing satellites in low Earth orbit. Such satellites typically don't take a "picture". They instead continuously scan the Earth a line at a time. This means the sunglint moves with the satellite.

You can see this effect yourself while flying in an airplane. Little ribbons of rivers and lakes can appear to be on fire. Here's a nice short YouTube video that shows this perfectly.