{ "count": 44, "next": null, "previous": null, "results": [ { "id": 4851, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4851/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2020-09-09T13:15:00-04:00", "title": "Deep Star Maps 2020", "description": "The star map in celestial coordinates, at five different resolutions. The map is centered at 0h right ascension, and r.a. increases to the left. || starmap_2020_4k_print.jpg (1024x512) [41.8 KB] || starmap_2020_4k_searchweb.png (320x180) [53.9 KB] || starmap_2020_4k_thm.png (80x40) [5.5 KB] || starmap_2020_4k.exr (4096x2048) [34.3 MB] || starmap_2020_8k.exr (8192x4096) [124.5 MB] || starmap_2020_16k.exr (16384x8192) [422.9 MB] || starmap_2020_32k.exr (32768x16384) [1.4 GB] || starmap_2020_64k.exr (65536x32768) [3.8 GB] || ", "hits": 3490 }, { "id": 4856, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4856/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2020-09-09T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "An Elsewhere Starfield", "description": "The randomized star map in celestial coordinates, at five different resolutions. (Or more generically: The galactic plane is tilted 63° in the coordinate frame of the image.) || starmap_random_2020_4k_print.jpg (1024x512) [37.1 KB] || starmap_random_2020_4k_searchweb.png (320x180) [67.0 KB] || starmap_random_2020_4k_thm.png (80x40) [4.3 KB] || starmap_random_2020_4k.exr (4096x2048) [34.1 MB] || starmap_random_2020_8k.exr (8192x4096) [123.8 MB] || starmap_random_2020_16k.exr (16384x8192) [423.3 MB] || starmap_random_2020_32k.exr (32768x16384) [1.4 GB] || starmap_random_2020_64k.exr (65536x32768) [3.8 GB] || ", "hits": 449 }, { "id": 4824, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4824/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2020-05-25T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "MAVEN Observes Solar Particle Velocities and the Induced Magnetic Field", "description": "MAVEN orbits Mars and measures solar particle velocities and variations in the solar wind’s magnetic field. || maven_vels_magField.03000_print.jpg (1024x576) [92.5 KB] || maven_vels_magField.03000_searchweb.png (320x180) [63.5 KB] || maven_vels_magField.03000_thm.png (80x40) [4.2 KB] || maven_vels_magField_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [83.1 MB] || 1920x1080_16x9_30p (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || maven_vels_magField_1080p30.webm (1920x1080) [19.0 MB] || 4824_MAVEN_Solar_Wind_Data_1080_30p.mov (1920x1080) [2.6 GB] || maven_vels_magField_1080p30.mp4.hwshow [193 bytes] || ", "hits": 137 }, { "id": 4825, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4825/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2020-05-25T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "MAVEN – Mars and Solar Wind Simulation", "description": "This simulation depicts the solar wind interacting with the Mars upper atmosphere, with MAVEN's orbit embedded. || maven_cme44.03600_print.jpg (1024x512) [253.9 KB] || maven_cme44.03600_searchweb.png (320x180) [92.7 KB] || maven_cme44.03600_thm.png (80x40) [5.2 KB] || 1920x1080_16x9_30p (2048x1024) [0 Item(s)] || maven_cme44_1024p30.webm (2048x1024) [5.9 MB] || maven_cme44_1024p30.mp4 (2048x1024) [195.1 MB] || maven_cme44_1024p30.mp4.hwshow [58 bytes] || ", "hits": 61 }, { "id": 4755, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4755/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2019-12-12T14:00:00-05:00", "title": "Mars Upper Level Winds Observed by MAVEN - Visualizations", "description": "MAVEN observes upper level Martian winds over the course of about two years. || maven_upper_winds_60fps.0104__cam_mainShape_190909182423_beauty.1780_print.jpg (1024x576) [42.9 KB] || maven_upper_winds_60fps.0104__cam_mainShape_190909182423_beauty.1780_searchweb.png (320x180) [49.1 KB] || maven_upper_winds_60fps.0104__cam_mainShape_190909182423_beauty.1780_thm.png (80x40) [4.0 KB] || maven_upper_winds_campaigns_1080p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [51.0 MB] || maven_upper_winds_campaigns_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [46.4 MB] || maven_upper_winds.0104_cam_mainShape_190909182423_beauty_1080p30.webm (1920x1080) [9.6 MB] || campaigns (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || maven_upper_winds_campaigns_2160p60.mp4 (3840x2160) [162.2 MB] || maven_upper_winds_campaigns_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [146.8 MB] || 4755_MAVEN_Wind_Currents_Full.mov (3840x2160) [9.7 GB] || maven_upper_winds_campaigns_1080p30.mp4.hwshow [201 bytes] || ", "hits": 53 }, { "id": 4600, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4600/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2018-01-31T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Sixty Years of Earth Observations: from Explorer-1 (1958) to CYGNSS (2017)", "description": "Earth observing spacecraft from Explorer-1 to CYGNSSThis video is also available on our YouTube channel. || explorer1_68_1920x1080.09999_print.jpg (1024x576) [149.7 KB] || explorer1_68_1920x1080.09999_searchweb.png (320x180) [76.7 KB] || explorer1_68_1920x1080.09999_thm.png (80x40) [5.8 KB] || explorer1_68_1920x1080_p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [73.6 MB] || firsts (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || explorer1_68_1920x1080_p30.webm (1920x1080) [35.9 MB] || explorer1_68_1920x1080_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [124.5 MB] || explorer1_68_1920x1080.1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [128.5 MB] || 9600x3240_16x9_30p (9600x3240) [0 Item(s)] || 3840x2160_16x9_60p (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || explorer1_68_3840x2160_p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [461.5 MB] || ", "hits": 91 }, { "id": 4583, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4583/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2017-11-20T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "NASA's Near-Earth Science Mission Fleet: March 2017", "description": "NASA Near-Earth Science Fleet (August 2017) || near_earth_sciences02.6100_print.jpg (1024x576) [69.3 KB] || near_earth_sciences02.6100_searchweb.png (320x180) [44.2 KB] || near_earth_sciences02.6100_thm.png (80x40) [4.0 KB] || near_earth_sciences02_1080p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [51.2 MB] || 1920x1080_16x9_60p (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || near_earth_sciences02_1080p60.webm (1920x1080) [12.6 MB] || near_earth_sciences02_360p30.mp4 (640x360) [6.6 MB] || 9600x3240_16x9_30p (9600x3240) [0 Item(s)] || ", "hits": 43 }, { "id": 4373, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4373/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2017-11-03T15:00:00-04:00", "title": "ICESat-2 Orbit", "description": "ICESat-2 orbiting Earth: starting with global view building up ground track, then riding the satellite view, then back to a global view with full ground track || icesat2_orbit26.2100_print.jpg (1024x576) [114.4 KB] || icesat2_orbit26.2100_searchweb.png (320x180) [77.7 KB] || icesat2_orbit26.2100_thm.png (80x40) [5.2 KB] || icesat2_orbit_long_720p30.mp4 (1280x720) [42.8 MB] || long (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || long (1280x720) [0 Item(s)] || icesat2_orbit_long_1080p30.webm (1920x1080) [18.2 MB] || icesat2_orbit_long_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [104.5 MB] || icesat2_orbit_long_360p30.m4v (640x360) [27.8 MB] || long (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || icesat2_orbit_long_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [406.6 MB] || ", "hits": 69 }, { "id": 4451, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4451/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2017-08-01T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Alternative Night Sky - Another Time - Another Place", "description": "A low-magnitude threshold version of the skymap. The threshold magnitude is 3.0 so the galactic disk is very faint. Good for when you just want the brighter stars and have a wide field of view. || RandomizedSkymap.t3_04096x02048_print.jpg (1024x512) [157.4 KB] || RandomizedSkymap.t3_04096x02048_searchweb.png (320x180) [78.0 KB] || RandomizedSkymap.t3_04096x02048_thm.png (80x40) [4.1 KB] || RandomizedSkymap.t3_04096x02048.tif (4096x2048) [24.0 MB] || RandomizedSkymap.t3_08192x04096.tif (8192x4096) [96.0 MB] || ", "hits": 335 }, { "id": 4558, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4558/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2017-04-19T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA's Earth Observing Fleet: March 2017", "description": "NASA's Earth observing fleet as of March 2017 || final_earth_obs_fleet06.2100_print.jpg (1024x576) [96.1 KB] || final_earth_obs_fleet06.2100_searchweb.png (320x180) [62.3 KB] || final_earth_obs_fleet06.2100_thm.png (80x40) [4.5 KB] || final_earth_obs_fleet06_1080p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [46.9 MB] || final_earth_obs_fleet06_1080p60.webm (1920x1080) [11.2 MB] || final (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || final_earth_obs_fleet06_360p30.mp4 (640x360) [6.0 MB] || final06 (9600x3240) [0 Item(s)] || ", "hits": 64 }, { "id": 4469, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4469/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2016-06-16T15:00:00-04:00", "title": "Dynamic Earth-A New Beginning", "description": "The visualization 'Excerpt from \"Dynamic Earth\"' has been one of the most popular visualizations that the Scientific Visualization Studio has ever created. It's often used in presentations and Hyperwall shows to illustrate the connections between the Earth and the Sun, as well as the power of computer simulation in understanding those connections.There is one part of this visualization, however, that has always seemed a little clumsy to us. The opening shot is a pullback from the limb of the sun, where the sun is represented by a movie of 304 Angstrom images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). It is difficult to pull back from the limb of a flat sun image and make the sun look spherical, and the problem was made more difficult because the original sun images were in a spherical dome show format. As a result, the pullback from the sun showed some odd reprojection artifacts.The best solution to this issue was to replace the existing pullout with a new one, one which pulled directly out from the center of the solar disk. For the new beginning, we chose a series of SDO images in the 171 Angstrom channel that show a visible coronal mass ejection (CME) in the lower right corner of the solar disk. Although this is not the specific CME that is seen affecting Venus and Earth later in this visualization, its presence links the SDO animation thematically to the later solar storm. The SDO images were also brightened considerably and tinted yellow to match the common perception of the Sun as a bright yellow object (even though it is actually white).Please go to the original version of this visualization to see the complete credits and additional details. || ", "hits": 60 }, { "id": 4130, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4130/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2014-01-21T13:00:00-05:00", "title": "Tracking Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) Orbital Fleet Communicating with User Spacecraft", "description": "The Tracking Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) fleet has provided spacecraft communications and tracking since the 1980's. Designed to replace most ground stations and provide longer periods of coverage, TDRS spacecraft have become an indispensable component of both manned and unmanned Earth orbiting space missions.This visualization begins by showing how a typical spacecract (NIMBUS-7) communicated with the ground before TDRS. The spacecraft occassionally communicated with ground stations as its orbit briefly took it within range. This required ground stations to be spread all over the world and only allowed for sporatic communications between spacecraft and the ground.As the animation continues, the TDRS fleet of spacecraft are introduced and a typical modern-day spacecraft, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), is also introduced. As TRMM orbits the Earth, various TDRS spacrecraft are able to track and communicate with TRMM. This contact could be continuous, but for most spacecraft, continuous coverage is unnecessary. Constant communications between TDRS spacecraft and ground stations at White Sands and Guam are shown.The visualization then adds many of the other TDRS users and shows how they communicate.An additional (\"extra\") visualizaiton of the TDRS fleet communicating with user spacecraft is provided from a slightly different angle. These animations were created for a video supporting the launch of TDRS-12 (also called TDRS-L). || ", "hits": 94 }, { "id": 3879, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3879/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2013-10-01T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Wind and Ocean Circulation shot for Dynamic Earth Dome Show", "description": "This visualization was created for the planetarium dome show film called Dynamic Earth. It is rendered with a fish-eye projection, called domemaster, which is why it looks circular. In a dome, the image fills the dome's hemisphere so that the parts near the bottom of the image are low and in front of the view, the top of the image is behind the viewer, and the left and right sides are to the left and right of the viewer.The camera slowly pushes in towards the Earth revealing global wind patterns. The wind patterns are from the MERRA computational model of the atomsphere. As the camera continues to push in, the winds fade away, revealing ocean currents which are driven, in part, by the winds. The ocean currents are from the ECCO-2 computational model of the oceans and ice. Only the higher speed ocean currents are shown. The camera moves around the Western Atlantic highlighting the Gulf stream from above and below. The camera finally emerges from beneath sea level and moves over to the Gulf of Mexico to examine the Loop Current.This shot is designed to seamlessly match to the end of the Earth/CME shot (animation id #3551.). Topographic features are exaggerated 20 times above water and 40 times below water. The exaggeration is primarily to allow the viewer to distinguish the depths of the flow fields.This visualization was shown in the \"VR Village\" at SIGGRAPH 2015. || ", "hits": 89 }, { "id": 3880, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3880/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2013-10-01T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Earth Observing Spacecraft Fleet shot for Dynamic Earth Dome Show", "description": "This visualization shows the orbits of NASA's fleet of Earth observing spacecraft. It also includes the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope. This was created for a planetarium dome show called Dynamic Earth and is produced in domemaster format (a type of fisheye projection).The domemaster format was created by rendering 7 separate camera tiles. The tiles were then stitched together to form final domemaster layers at 4096x4096 resolution and 16 bits per channel with premultiplied alpha and no gamma correction. A composite version is provided along with the layers. There are 3 domemaster layers intended to be composited as follows: the Earth and orbits layer over Sun layer over star field (no alpha channel). || ", "hits": 47 }, { "id": 4041, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4041/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2013-02-08T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "GRAIL Free-Air Gravity Map for the Cover of Science", "description": "These print-resolution stills were created for the cover of the February 8, 2013 issue of Science. They show the free-air gravity map developed by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission.If the Moon were a perfectly smooth sphere of uniform density, the gravity map would be a single, featureless color, indicating that the force of gravity at a given elevation was the same everywhere. But like other rocky bodies in the solar system, including Earth, the Moon has both a bumpy surface and a lumpy interior. Spacecraft in orbit around the Moon experience slight variations in gravity caused by both of these irregularities.The free-air gravity map shows deviations from the mean, the gravity that a cueball Moon would have. The deviations are measured in milliGals, a unit of acceleration. On the map, dark purple is at the low end of the range, at around -400 mGals, and red is at the high end near +400 mGals. Yellow denotes the mean.These views show a part of the Moon's surface that's never visible from Earth. They are centered on lunar coordinates 29°N 142°E. The large, multi-ringed impact feature near the center is Mare Moscoviense. The crater Mendeleev is south of this. The digital elevation model for the terrain is from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter laser altimeter (LOLA). Merely for plausibility, the sun angle and starry background are accurate for specific dates (December 21, 2012, 0:00 UT and January 8, 2013, 14:00 UT, respectively). || ", "hits": 137 }, { "id": 11003, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11003/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-06-19T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Excerpt from \"Dynamic Earth\"", "description": "A giant explosion of magnetic energy from the sun, called a coronal mass ejection, slams into and is deflected completely by the Earth's powerful magnetic field. The sun also continually sends out streams of light and radiation energy. Earth's atmosphere acts like a radiation shield, blocking quite a bit of this energy.Much of the radiation energy that makes it through is reflected back into space by clouds, ice and snow and the energy that remains helps to drive the Earth system, powering a remarkable planetary engine — the climate. It becomes the energy that feeds swirling wind and ocean currents as cold air and surface waters move toward the equator and warm air and water moves toward the poles — all in an attempt to equalize temperatures around the world.A jury appointed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Science magazine has selected \"Excerpt from Dynamic Earth\" as the winner of the 2013 NSF International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge for the Video category. This animation will be highlighted in the February 2014 special section of Science and will be hosted on ScienceMag.org and NSF.govThis animation was selected for the Computer Animation Festival's Electronic Theater at the Association for Computer Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH), a prestigious computer graphics and technical research forum. This is an excerpt from the fulldome, high-resolution show 'Dynamic Earth: Exploring Earth's Climate Engine.' The Dynamic Earth dome show was selected as a finalist in the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Science Media Awards under the category \"Best Immersive Cinema - Fulldome\". || ", "hits": 117 }, { "id": 3972, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3972/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2012-05-29T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Earth Sciences Division Poster", "description": "This high-resolution image of the earth is designed for printing at 300 dpi on a large format poster printer at a size of 154.5 inches long and 72 inches high. The image is 46,352 pixels wide and 21,600 pixels high. || ", "hits": 37 }, { "id": 3913, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3913/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2012-02-15T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Gulf Stream Sea Surface Currents and Temperatures", "description": "This visualization shows the Gulf Stream stretching from the Gulf of Mexico all the way over towards Western Europe. This visualization was designed for a very wide, high resolution display (e.g., a 5x3 hyperwall display).This visualization was produced using model output from the joint MIT/JPL project entitled Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II (ECCO2). ECCO2 uses the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) to synthesize satellite and in-situ data of the global ocean and sea-ice at resolutions that begin to resolve ocean eddies and other narrow current systems, which transport heat and carbon in the oceans. The ECCO2 model simulates ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows are used in this visualization. There are 2 versions provided: one with the flows colored with gray, the other with flows colored using sea surface temperature data. The sea surface temperature data is also from the ECCO2 model. The dark patterns under the ocean represent the undersea bathymetry. Topographic land exaggeration is 20x and bathymetric exaggeration is 40x. || ", "hits": 623 }, { "id": 3895, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3895/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2012-01-17T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Deep Star Maps", "description": "This set of star maps was created by plotting the position, brightness, and color of just over 100 million stars from the Bright Star, Tycho-2, and UCAC3 star catalogs. The constellation boundaries are those established by the International Astronomical Union in 1930. The constellation figures also come from the IAU, although they're not official.The maps are presented in plate carrée projections using either celestial (J2000 geocentric right ascension and declination) or galactic coordinates. They are designed for spherical mapping in animation software. The oval shapes near the top and bottom of the star maps are not galaxies. The distortion of the stars in those parts of the map is just an effect of the projection.The celestial coordinate mapping will be the more useful one for animation, since camera rotations in the software will correspond in a straightforward way to the right ascension and declination in astronomy references. The galactic coordinate mapping works as a standalone image showing the edge-on view of our home galaxy, from the inside.The animation demonstrates the use of the maps in a tour of the sky. The tour starts at W-shaped Cassiopeia, then heads south through Perseus to the winter constellation of Orion the Hunter and the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters in Taurus. It moves southeast past Orion's canine companion and its star, Sirius, brightest in the sky, eventually pausing at the rich southern hemisphere portion of the Milky Way in Carina and Crux, the Southern Cross.East of the Cross, in Centaurus, is the binary star Alpha Centauri, at 4.4 light-years the naked-eye star system nearest to the Sun. Also visible as a fuzzy spot near the top of the frame is the globular cluster Omega Centauri. The number of stars used to draw the star maps is large enough to reveal many globular and open star clusters as well as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.After passing near the celestial south pole, the tour moves north along the Milky Way to the center of our galaxy near the teapot in Sagittarius. The tour veers northwest from there, finally stopping at the familiar Big Dipper or Plough asterism in Ursa Major.This is an update to entry 3572. || ", "hits": 1129 }, { "id": 3827, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3827/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2011-08-15T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Perpetual Ocean", "description": "This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through December 2007. The visualization does not include a narration or annotations; the goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience.This visualization was produced using model output from the joint MIT/JPL project: Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II or ECCO2. ECCO2 uses the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) to synthesize satellite and in-situ data of the global ocean and sea-ice at resolutions that begin to resolve ocean eddies and other narrow current systems, which transport heat and carbon in the oceans. ECCO2 provides ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows are used in this visualization. The dark patterns under the ocean represent the undersea bathymetry. Topographic land exaggeration is 20x and bathymetric exaggeration is 40x. This visualization was shown at the SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 Computer Animation Festival.Don't miss these related visualizations:Excerpt form Dynamic EarthGulf Stream Sea Surface Currents and TemperaturesOcean Current Flows around the Mediterranean Sea for UNESCOGlobal Sea Surface Currents and TemperatureFlat Map Ocean Current Flows with Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) || ", "hits": 993 }, { "id": 3815, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3815/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2011-03-15T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Stereoscopic Earth Observing Fleet", "description": "NASA's Earth Observing fleet of vehicles constitutes a major milestone in the history of Earth science, facilitating the kinds of wide scale and synergistic research endeavors that until the last decades have been impossible to even consider. Many of the techniques being employed around Earth are a direct offshoot of technological and scientific techniques developed on missions to other worlds. NASA's continued commitment to primary research about our home remains a top priority not only to the agency, but to the nation, and the world as a whole. This visualization shows the spacecraft in NASA's Earth Observing fleet. The relative altitudes, speeds, sun position, and clouds are correct for 05 February 2010 from about 19:31UT to about 20:04UTThis stereoscopic version was created based on previous animations and is intended for viewing with a steroscopic projector or television. A stereo anaglyph version is also included which can be watched using red/cyan glasses. || ", "hits": 25 }, { "id": 3822, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3822/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2011-02-14T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Stereoscopic Magnetic Field Lines", "description": "This stereoscopic visualization shows a simple model of the Earth's magnetic field. The magnetic field partially shields the Earth from harmful charged particles emanating from the sun. The field is stretched back away from Sun by solar particle and radiation pressures.The geomagnetic field is generated (and regenerated) as the conducting fluid of the Earth's mantle and core, driven by convection of heat from deeper in the interior, induces an electromotive force (EMF) with the existing magnetic field. This process is very similar to the way an electric generator generates a voltage. That voltage then drives an induced current in the conducting fluid, which also produces a magnetic field. This feedback mechanism helps maintain the field, continuously converting the thermal energy in the Earth into magnetic field energy.The magnetic field line data used in this visualization is from a simplified static model. More complex models deform the magnetic field over time as the Earth rotates and experiences solar pressures. Many of the field lines (particulary near the back, away from the Sun) should eventually connect (north and south poles), but the 3d model used in this visualization does not extend far enough to see this.The day/night terminator is aligned with the Sun and is therefore aligned with the magnetic field too. This visualization is based on a previous monoscopic visualizaton that included magnetic field line data. || ", "hits": 235 }, { "id": 3814, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3814/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2011-01-28T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Earth Observing Fleet Still Image for Stereoscopic Viewfinder", "description": "NASA's Earth Observing fleet of vehicles constitutes a major milestone in the history of Earth science, facilitating the kinds of wide scale and synergistic research endeavors that until the last decades have been impossible to even consider. Many of the techniques being employed around Earth are a direct offshoot of technological and scientific techniques developed on missions to other worlds. NASA's continued commitment to primary research about our home remains a top priority not only to the agency, but to the nation, and the world as a whole. This visualization shows the spacecraft in NASA's Earth Observing fleet. The relative altitudes, speeds, sun position, and clouds are correct for 05 February 2010 at about 20:00 GMT.This stereoscopic artistic rendition was created from previous animations and is intended for viewing through a special NASA Earth Science Viewfinder available through NASA Headquarters. An anaglyph version is included in addition to a printable viewfinder version. Individual left eye and right eye views are also included. || ", "hits": 24 }, { "id": 3779, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3779/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2010-10-30T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Hurricane Danielle's Hot Towers August 27,2010 Stereoscopic Version", "description": "NASA's TRMM spacecraft allows us to look under Hurricane Danielle's clouds to see the rain structure on August 27, 2005 at 06:46 UTC or 2:46 EDT. At this time, Hurricane Danielle was a powerful Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with sustained winds of 115 knots (132 mph). An area of deep convective towers (shown in red) is prominently visible in the center of the storm. These tall towers are the key to Danielle's intensification. They are associated with the strong thunderstorms responsible for the areas of intense rain. These storms within a storm are releasing vast amounts of heat into the core of Danielle. This heating, known as latent heating, is what is driving the storm's circulation and intensification. This animation shows infrared data from TRMM's Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) sensor above a thinner swath from TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR). TRMM reveals that Danielle now has a well-formed eye surrounded by sharply curved rainbands—all signs of mature storm with an intense circulation. TRMM also reveals that there are very powerful thunderstorms in Danielle's eye wall dropping extreme amounts of rain. || ", "hits": 22 }, { "id": 3763, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3763/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2010-09-16T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA's Orbiting Earth Observing Fleet (NASM 2010)", "description": "NASA's Earth Observing fleet of vehicles constitutes a major milestone in the history of Earth science, facilitating the kinds of wide scale and synergistic research endeavors that until the last decade have been impossible to even consider. Many of the techniques being employed around Earth are a direct offshoot of technological and scientific techniques developed on missions to other worlds. NASA's continued commitment to primary research about our home remains a top priority not only to the agency, but to the nation, and the world as a whole. This visualization shows the spacecraft in NASA's Earth Observing fleet. The relative altitudes, speeds, sun position, and clouds are correct during a portion of February 2010.This version of the orbital fleet was created for a talk by Piers Sellers at the National Air and Space Museum. About half-way through this visualization, the spacecraft that are beyond their designed lifetimes are faded to gray. The only spacraft still within its designed lifetime when this visualization was created was Jason-2. || ", "hits": 25 }, { "id": 3707, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3707/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2010-05-01T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Five Spheres - Land Changes through NDVI", "description": "Satellite data can be used to monitor the health of plant life from space. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) provides a simple numerical indicator of the health of vegetation which can be used to monitoring changes in vegetation over time. This animation shows the seasonal changes in vegetation by fading between average monthly NDVI data from 2004. This animation of land changes is match framed to animation id a003708, a003709, a003710, and a003711. || ", "hits": 155 }, { "id": 3709, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3709/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2010-05-01T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Five Spheres - Biosphere", "description": "Satellite data can be used to monitor the health of the biosphere from space. This animation of seasonal changes to the biosphere is match framed to animation entries 3707, 3708, 3710, and 3711. The SeaWiFS instrument is carried aboard the satellite OrbView-2, providing important information about the oceans, the land, and the life within them. On land, the dark greens show where there is abundant vegetation and tans show relatively sparse plant cover. In the oceans, red, yellow, and green pixels show dense phytoplankton blooms, those regions of the ocean that are the most productive over time, while blues and purples show where there is very little of the microscopic marine plants called phytoplankton. For most of the world's oceans, the most important things that influence its color are phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are very small, single-celled plants, generally smaller than the size of a pinhead that contain a green pigment called chlorophyll. All plants (on land and in the ocean) use chlorophyll to capture energy from the sun and through the process known as photosynthesis convert water and carbon dioxide into new plant material and oxygen. Although microscopic, phytoplankton can bloom in such large numbers that they can change the color of the ocean to such a degree that we can measure that change from space. The basic principle behind the remote sensing of ocean color from space is this: the more phytoplankton in the water, the greener it is...the less phytoplankton, the bluer it is. For more information, visit http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/SeaWiFS/. || ", "hits": 117 }, { "id": 3711, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3711/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2010-05-01T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Five Spheres - Water", "description": "Satellite data can be used to observe the dramatic ebb and flow of the our planet's water system from space. This animation of QuikSCAT's sea surface winds is match framed to animation entries 3707, 3708, 3709, and 3710. The SeaWinds Scatterometer instrument on the QuikSCAT satellite captures the always moving and complex sea surface. The mission has also provided critical information for monitoring, modeling, forecasting and researching our atmosphere, ocean and climate.By any measure of success, the 10-year-old QuikSCAT mission is a unique national resource that has achieved and far surpassed its science objectives. Designed for a two-year lifetime, QuikSCAT has been used around the globe by the world's operational meteorological agencies to improve weather forecasts and identify the location, size and strength of hurricanes and other storms in the open ocean. More information on QuikSCAT is online at: http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/index.cfm. || ", "hits": 21 }, { "id": 3635, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3635/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2009-10-15T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "IBEX First Skymap Release", "description": "The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission science team has used data from NASA's IBEX spacecraft to construct the first-ever all-sky map of the interactions occurring at the edge of the solar system, where the sun's influence diminishes and interacts with the interstellar medium. The interstellar boundary region shields our solar system from most of the dangerous galactic cosmic radiation that would otherwise enter from interstellar space.This visualization illustrates the IBEX satellite in Earth orbit (the orbit reaching almost as far as the orbit of the Moon) and pulls out to beyond the heliopause boundary (the true 3-D nature of the boundary is reduced to a 2-D spherical surface). The sphere with the skymap opens to reproject the data into a near-Aitoff type map projection.The skymap shows the measured flux of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). || ", "hits": 46 }, { "id": 3595, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3595/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2009-07-27T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Sentinels of the Heliosphere", "description": "Heliophysics is a term to describe the study of the Sun, its atmosphere or the heliosphere, and the planets within it as a system. As a result, it encompasses the study of planetary atmospheres and their magnetic environment, or magnetospheres. These environments are important in the study of space weather.As a society dependent on technology, both in everyday life, and as part of our economic growth, space weather becomes increasingly important. Changes in space weather, either by solar events or geomagnetic events, can disrupt and even damage power grids and satellite communications. Space weather events can also generate x-rays and gamma-rays, as well as particle radiations, that can jeopardize the lives of astronauts living and working in space.This visualization tours the regions of near-Earth orbit; the Earth's magnetosphere, sometimes called geospace; the region between the Earth and the Sun; and finally out beyond Pluto, where Voyager 1 and 2 are exploring the boundary between the Sun and the rest of our Milky Way galaxy. Along the way, we see these regions patrolled by a fleet of satellites that make up NASA's Heliophysics Observatory Telescopes. Many of these spacecraft do not take images in the conventional sense but record fields, particle energies and fluxes in situ. Many of these missions are operated in conjunction with international partners, such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA).The Earth and distances are to scale. Larger objects are used to represent the satellites and other planets for clarity.Here are the spacecraft featured in this movie:Near-Earth Fleet:Hinode: Observes the Sun in multiple wavelengths up to x-rays. SVS pageRHESSI : Observes the Sun in x-rays and gamma-rays. SVS pageTRACE: Observes the Sun in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths. SVS pageTIMED: Studies the upper layers (40-110 miles up) of the Earth's atmosphere.FAST: Measures particles and fields in regions where aurora form.CINDI: Measures interactions of neutral and charged particles in the ionosphere. AIM: Images and measures noctilucent clouds. SVS pageGeospace Fleet:Geotail: Conducts measurements of electrons and ions in the Earth's magnetotail. Cluster: This is a group of four satellites which fly in formation to measure how particles and fields in the magnetosphere vary in space and time. SVS pageTHEMIS: This is a fleet of five satellites to study how magnetospheric instabilities produce substorms. SVS pageL1 Fleet: The L1 point is a Lagrange Point, a point between the Earth and the Sun where the gravitational pull is approximately equal. Spacecraft can orbit this location for continuous coverage of the Sun.SOHO: Studies the Sun with cameras and a multitude of other instruments. SVS pageACE: Measures the composition and characteristics of the solar wind. Wind: Measures particle flows and fields in the solar wind. Heliospheric FleetSTEREO-A and B: These two satellites observe the Sun, with imagers and particle detectors, off the Earth-Sun line, providing a 3-D view of solar activity. SVS pageHeliopause FleetVoyager 1 and 2: These spacecraft conducted the original 'Planetary Grand Tour' of the solar system in the 1970s and 1980s. They have now travelled further than any human-built spacecraft and are still returning measurements of the interplanetary medium. SVS pageThis enhanced, narrated visualization was shown at the SIGGRAPH 2009 Computer Animation Festival in New Orleans, LA in August 2009; an eariler version created for AGU was called NASA's Heliophysics Observatories Study the Sun and Geospace. || ", "hits": 115 }, { "id": 3621, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3621/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2009-07-27T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "LRO Transition from Earth-Centered to Moon-Centered Coordinates", "description": "This animation illustrates the solution to a human factors problem in the visualization of an orbit path, in this case the launch and lunar orbit insertion of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite.The visualization (found HERE) shows LRO orbiting the Earth, traveling from the Earth to the moon, and entering lunar orbit. Throughout the visualization, a trail is drawn to show LRO's path. This trail is a history of LRO's motion.The viewer's expectation is that LRO first travels in a circular orbit centered on the Earth, then follows a smoothly curving path connecting the Earth to the moon, and finally enters an elliptical orbit around the moon. The problem for the animator is that an accurate trail satisfying all of these expectations is impossible to draw in a single coordinate system. A trail drawn in Earth-centered coordinates forms a looping, spring-like path when LRO enters lunar orbit, and a trail drawn in moon body-fixed coordinates becomes disconnected from the Earth and precesses through space.Simply switching from one coordinate system to the other would make the trail appear to jump suddenly and dramatically. Creating a hybrid trail would leave a visually confusing elbow in LRO's path.The solution illustrated here is to morph the trail from one coordinate system to the other. The blue trail is the Earth-centered path, the orange trail is the moon body-fixed path, and the white trail is the morph between the two. In the visualization, the Earth trail shortens, disconnecting it from the Earth, and then morphs over about 400 frames into the moon body-fixed trail. With careful timing, the result is a visually seamless transition from one coordinate system to the other.Notice that the difference in coordinate systems creates no ambiguity about the present position of LRO at any given time. LRO is always at the intersection of the trails. The problem arises when attempting to depict the history of its motion. That history takes different shapes in coordinate systems that move relative to one another.An animation showing LRO's entire path in both coordinate systems simultaneously can be found HERE. || ", "hits": 119 }, { "id": 3495, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3495/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2009-07-26T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Heliophysics Great Observatory (Phase-1)", "description": "This visualization was an early piece of a larger, more complete visualization.To see the completed visualization please go HERE.This visualization shows many of the spacecraft in NASA's heliophysics great observatory fleet. The heliophysics fleet explores various aspects of the helipsphere including Earth's magnetosphere. To do this requires many spacecraft sampling data at many different places — close to the Earth, between the Earth and the Sun, and far away from the Earth.Phase-1 of this visualziation shows the orbits of spacecraft around the date when the Stereo spacecraft received lunar assists to get into solar orbit. This phase focuses on near-Earth orbiters and L1 orbiters. || ", "hits": 16 }, { "id": 3618, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3618/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2009-07-17T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "LRO in Earth Centered and Moon Centered Coordinates", "description": "This visualization shows the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) orbit insertion from two different points of view (i.e., coordinate systems): Earth centered inertial coordinates and moon centered fixed coordinates. Orbit trails are shown in bright colors where the orbits have been and in darker colors for where the orbits will be. At any particular time, LRO is exactly at the intersection of the two orbit trail curves. The Earth centered coordinates are in blue and the moon centered coordinate are in orange.Why are there two different trails?Because the moon is moving, the moon centered coordinate system is moving. If the moon was stationary with respect to the Earth, both trails would look the same; but since the moon is moving, the moon's trail is always moving and the trails look different.Think of LRO orbiting the moon. From the moon's perspective, it's just going in an ellipse around the moon. In this case, the observation point (the moon) is moving with LRO. But, from the Earth's perspective, if you plotted out the trail of LRO, you would get a series of loops as LRO goes around the moon and as the moon moves through the sky.Animating an orbit trail that changes between two discrete coordinate systems is a challenge. A discontinuity arises if you just switch over from one trail to another. To animate a smooth transition one solution is to carefully select sections of the Earth centered and moon centered curves and then morph from the Earth centered curve section to the moon centered curve section while the animation was playing. This technique was used here as well. || ", "hits": 173 }, { "id": 3603, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3603/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2009-07-08T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Orbit Insertion - Stereoscopic Version", "description": "This visualization shows an example of how the orbit insertion for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) might look. LRO launches from Cape Canaveral, then flies around the Earth and on to the moon. Time speeds up during the journey to the moon, then slows again as LRO approaches the moon. LRO begins orbiting the moon and, through a series of several \"burns\", moves in closer to its desired orbit. LRO's initial orbit plane around the moon is parallel to the direction of the moon's travel.This visualization was created before launch using simulated ephemeris data. The ephemeris data driving this visualization was based on a simulated night time launch on 11/24/2008; but, the actual launch may happen during the daytime. In this page the visualization content is offered in two different modes to accomodate stereoscopic systems as: Left and Right Eye separate and Left and Right Eye side-by-side combined on the same frame. || ", "hits": 22 }, { "id": 3605, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3605/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2009-07-06T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) Dayside Orbit Animation for the Preliminary Design Review (PDR)", "description": "This visualization uses simulated ephemerides to show the proposed orbits of the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) during the \"dayside magnetosheath/magnetopause\" orbit phase. The movie initially shows the general orientation of the orbit with respect to the Earth, Moon, and Sun. It then zooms in to \"ride\" along with the spacecraft. We then zoom in even closer to show that there are actually four spacecraft flying in a tetrahedral formation. Finally, we see how the 4 spacecraft skim the magnetosheath such that, occasionally, some of the spacecraft are inside (e.g., MMS #1) and some are outside (e.g., MMS #2, #3, and #4) of the magnetosheath boundary.This visualization was created in support of the MMS Preliminary Design Review (PDR) which was held May 4 - 7, 2009. || ", "hits": 2066 }, { "id": 3572, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3572/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2009-01-26T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "The Tycho Catalog Skymap - Version 2.0", "description": "This image set is a skymap of stars from the Tycho and Hipparcos star catalogs, provided by the ESO/ECF generic catalog server. The maps are plotted in plate carrée projection (Cylindrical-Equidistant) using celestial coordinates making them suitable for mapping onto spheres in many popular animation programs. The stars are plotted as gaussian point-spread functions (PSF) so the size and amplitude of the stars corresponds to their relative intensity. The stars are also elongated in Right Ascension (celestial longitude) based on declination (celestial latitude) so stars in the polar regions will still be round when projected on a sphere. Stars fainter than the threshold magnitude, usually selected as 5th magnitude, have their magnitude-intensity curve adjusted so they appear brighter than they really are. This makes the band of the Milky Way more visible. Stellar colors are assigned based on B and V magnitudes (B and V are stellar magnitudes measured through different filters). If Johnson B and V magnitudes are unavailable, Tycho B and V magnitudes are used instead. From these, an effective stellar temperature is derived using the algorithms described in Flower (ApJ 469, 355 1996). Corrections were noted from Siobahn Morgan (UNI). The effective temperature was then converted to CIE tristimulus X,Y,Z triples assuming a black-body emission distribution. The X,Y,Z values are then converted to red-green-blue color pixels. About 2.4 million stars are plotted, but many may be below the pixel intensity resolution. The three most conspicuously missing objects on these maps are the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the two Magellanic Clouds. Changes from the first version #3442, The Tycho Catalog Skymap: The star generation algorithm now favors use of the Johnson magnitudes when available. This improves the star colors over the previous method. The star intensity profiles are also slightly modified to make the cores brighter with a faster intensity falloff. We have also set the color standard to SMPTE with a gamma of 1.8.Update: This skymap has been revised. The newer version is available at Deep Star Maps. || ", "hits": 221 }, { "id": 3578, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3578/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2008-12-18T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "AMSR-E Arctic Sea Ice: 2005 to 2008 - Stereoscopic Version", "description": "Sea ice is frozen seawater floating on the surface of the ocean. Some sea ice is semi-permanent, persisting from year to year, and some is seasonal, melting and refreezing from season to season. The sea ice cover reaches its minimum extent at the end of each summer and the remaining ice is called the perennial ice cover.In this animation, the globe slowly rotates one full rotation while the Arctic sea ice and seasonal land cover change throughout the years. The animation begins on September 21, 2005 when sea ice in the Arctic was at its minimum extent, and continues through September 20, 2008. This time period repeats twice during the animation, playing at a rate of one frame per day. Over the terrain, monthly data from the seasonal Blue Marble Next Generation fades slowly from month to month. Over the water, Arctic sea ice changes from day to day. This visualization is a stereoscopic version of animation entry: #3571: AMSR-E Arctic Sea Ice: 2005 to 2008In this page the visualization content is offered in two different modes to accomodate stereoscopic systems, such as: Left and Right Eye separate and Left and Right Eye side-by-side combined on the same frame. || ", "hits": 33 }, { "id": 3569, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3569/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2008-12-16T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "THEMIS Dayside Science - Sampling the Bow Shock", "description": "In the early part of the mission, the five THEMIS satellites follow the same orbit single-file. The apogee of the orbit takes the spacecraft just beyond the bow shock of Earth's magnetosphere. This enables the closely spaced satellites to measure the thickness of the different regions that they encounter. || ", "hits": 22 }, { "id": 3570, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3570/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2008-12-15T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "NASA's Heliophysics Observatories Study the Sun and Geospace", "description": "Heliophysics is a term to describe the study of the Sun, its atmosphere or the heliosphere, and the planets within it as a system. As a result, it encompasses the study of planetary atmospheres and their magnetic environment, or magnetospheres. These environments are important in the study of space weather.As a society dependent on technology, both in everyday life, and as part of our economic growth, space weather becomes increasingly important. Changes in space weather, either by solar events or geomagnetic events, can disrupt and even damage power grids and satellite communications. Space weather events can also generate x-rays and gamma-rays, as well as particle radiations, that can jeopardize the lives of astronauts living and working in space.This visualization tours the regions of near-Earth orbit; the Earth's magnetosphere, sometimes called geospace; the region between the Earth and the Sun; and finally out beyond Pluto, where Voyager 1 and 2 are exploring the boundary between the Sun and the rest of our Milky Way galaxy. Along the way, we see these regions patrolled by a fleet of satellites that make up NASA's Heliophysics Observatory Telescopes. Many of these spacecraft do not take images in the conventional sense but record fields, particle energies and fluxes in situ. Many of these missions are operated in conjunction with international partners, such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA).The Earth and distances are to scale. Larger objects are used to represent the satellites and other planets for clarity.Here are the spacecraft featured in this movie:Near-Earth Fleet:Hinode: Observes the Sun in multiple wavelengths up to x-rays. SVS pageRHESSI : Observes the Sun in x-rays and gamma-rays. SVS pageTRACE: Observes the Sun in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths. SVS pageTIMED: Studies the upper layers (40-110 miles up) of the Earth's atmosphere.FAST: Measures particles and fields in regions where aurora form.CINDI: Measures interactions of neutral and charged particles in the ionosphere. AIM: Images and measures noctilucent clouds. SVS pageGeospace Fleet:Geotail: Conducts measurements of electrons and ions in the Earth's magnetotail. Cluster: This is a group of four satellites which fly in formation to measure how particles and fields in the magnetosphere vary in space and time. SVS pageTHEMIS: This is a fleet of five satellites to study how magnetospheric instabilities produce substorms. SVS pageL1 Fleet: The L1 point is a Lagrange Point between the Sun and the Earth. Spacecraft can orbit this location for continuous coverage of the Sun.SOHO: Studies the Sun with cameras and a multitude of other instruments. SVS pageACE: Measures the composition and characteristics of the solar wind. Wind: Measures particle flows and fields in the solar wind. Heliospheric FleetSTEREO-A and B: These two satellites observe the Sun, with imagers and particle detectors, off the Earth-Sun line, providing a 3-D view of solar activity. SVS pageHeliopause FleetVoyager 1 and 2: These spacecraft conducted the original 'Planetary Grand Tour' of the solar system in the 1970s and 1980s. They have now travelled further than any human-built spacecraft and are still returning measurements of the interplanetary medium. SVS pageA refined and narrated version of this visualization, Sentinels of the Heliosphere, is now available. || ", "hits": 84 }, { "id": 3525, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3525/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2008-12-01T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Two Posters of Earth with Sea Ice and Clouds over a Star Background", "description": "These very high resolution images show a global view of the Earth at different orientations with Arctic sea ice on December 8,2008 and September 15, 2008. The extent of the sea ice was determined by the AMSR-E sea ice concentration data. The terrain shows the average land cover for the related months over the continents. (See Blue Marble Next Generation) The global cloud cover shown was obtained from the original Blue Marble cloud data distributed in 2002. (See Blue Marble:Clouds) A matching star background is provided. || ", "hits": 59 }, { "id": 3539, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3539/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2008-08-29T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Blue Marble Next Generation Images from Terra/MODIS", "description": "The Blue Marble Next Generation (BMNG) data set provides a monthly global cloud-free true-color picture of the Earth's landcover at a 500-meter spatial resolution. This data set, shown on a globe, is derived from monthly data collected in 2004. The ocean color is derived from applying a depth shading to the bathymetry data. The Antarctica coverage snown is the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica. Behind the Earth is a skymap from the Tycho and Hipparcos star catalogs. This skymap is plotted in plate carrée projection (Cylindrical-Equidistant) using celestial coordinates making them suitable for mapping onto spheres in many popular animation programs. The stars are plotted as gaussian point-spread functions (PSF) so the size and amplitude of the stars corresponds to their relative intensity. The stars are also elongated in Right Ascension (celestial longitude) based on declination (celestial latitude) so stars in the polar regions will still be round when projected on a sphere. Stars fainter than the threshold magnitude, usually selected as 5th magnitude, have their magnitude-intensity curve adjusted so they appear brighter than they really are. This makes the band of the Milky Way more visible. Stellar colors are assigned based on B and V magnitudes (B and V are stellar magnitudes measured through different filters). If Tycho B and V magnitudes are unavailable, Johnson B and V magnitudes are used instead. From these, an effective stellar temperature is derived using the algorithms described in Flower (ApJ 469, 355 1996). Corrections were noted from Siobahn Morgan (UNI). The effective temperature was then converted to CIE tristimulus X,Y,Z triples assuming a black-body emission distribution. The X,Y,Z values are then converted to red-green-blue color pixels. About 2.4 million stars are plotted, but many may be below the pixel intensity resolution. The three most conspicuously missing objects on these maps are the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the two Magellanic Clouds. || ", "hits": 200 }, { "id": 3442, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3442/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2007-08-20T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Tycho Catalog Skymap", "description": "This image set is a skymap of stars from the Tycho and Hipparcos star catalogs. The maps are plotted in plate carrée projection (Cylindrical-Equidistant) using celestial coordinates making them suitable for mapping onto spheres in many popular animation programs. The stars are plotted as gaussian point-spread functions (PSF) so the size and amplitude of the stars corresponds to their relative intensity. The stars are also elongated in Right Ascension (celestial longitude) based on declination (celestial latitude) so stars in the polar regions will still be round when projected on a sphere. Stars fainter than the threshold magnitude, usually selected as 5th magnitude, have their magnitude-intensity curve adjusted so they appear brighter than they really are. This makes the band of the Milky Way more visible. Stellar colors are assigned based on B and V magnitudes (B and V are stellar magnitudes measured through different filters). If Tycho B and V magnitudes are unavailable, Johnson B and V magnitudes are used instead. From these, an effective stellar temperature is derived using the algorithms described in Flower (ApJ 469, 355 1996). Corrections were noted from Siobahn Morgan (UNI). The effective temperature was then converted to CIE tristimulus X,Y,Z triples assuming a black-body emission distribution. The X,Y,Z values are then converted to red-green-blue color pixels. About 2.4 million stars are plotted, but many may be below the pixel intensity resolution. The three most conspicuously missing objects on these maps are the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the two Magellanic Clouds. [The images in this visualization were updated August 28, 2007 to fix a bug in the star generation algorithm.]This skymap has been superseded by #3572, The Tycho Catalog Skymap - Version 2.0. || ", "hits": 169 }, { "id": 3402, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3402/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2007-02-15T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Global View of the Arctic and Antarctic on September 21, 2005", "description": "In support of International Polar Year, this matching pair of images showing a global view of the Arctic and Antarctic were generated in poster-size resolution. Both images show the sea ice on September 21, 2005, the date at which the sea ice was at its minimum extent in the northern hemisphere. The color of the sea ice is derived from the AMSR-E 89 GHz brightness temperature while the extent of the sea ice was determined by the AMSR-E sea ice concentration. Over the continents, the terrain shows the average land cover for September, 2004. (See Blue Marble Next Generation) The global cloud cover shown was obtained from the original Blue Marble cloud data distributed in 2002. (See Blue Marble:Clouds) A matching star background is provided for each view. All images include transparency, allowing them to be composited on a background. || ", "hits": 76 }, { "id": 3379, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3379/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2006-10-23T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Arrange for Change Poster", "description": "As part of the Earth to Sky project, this graphic is being used by the National Park Service (NPS) as a 7.5 X 9.8 foot traveling exhibition booth. Earth to Sky is a partnership between NASA and NPS that gives NASA content to NPS interpreters to help park visitors connect with the natural and cultural heritage of the U.S. The 'Arrange for Change' theme, provides information about the climate change and its consequences for National Parks. The 'Blue Marble' Earth image and star field provided by the Scientific Visualization Studio are used to evoke the emotional connection that this is the only planet we can call home. || ", "hits": 35 } ] }