Planets and Moons ID: 3616

Galilean moon orbits from Callisto into Jupiter

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on September 21, 2009

NOTE: The orbital plane of the moons in these visualizations is incorrect. The Galilean moons should be aligned to Jupiter's equator.

This visualization starts close in on Jupiter's moon Callisto. We pull back and start moving in towards Jupiter, passing Ganymede on the way. Io and Europa are off in the distance behind Jupiter as we push in and Jupiter fills the screen.

This visualization was created in support of the Science On a Sphere film called "LARGEST" which is about Jupiter. The visualziation was choreographed to fit into "LARGEST" as a layers to be composited in post-production. There are five separate layers that were designed to give the editors flexibility in reagrds to when particular objects faded in/out. There are three layers that are identical except that Callisto and Jupiter are offset 0, 120, and 240 degrees; this is for a zoom out/in effect that transitions quickly to fully wrapped images of Callisto/Jupiter. A background layer contains only Io and Europa. Finally a layer with Jupiter as a gray ball in included for use in masking. All of the layers are intended to be composited over a starfield. Since there is very little camera motion other than a push in, a moving starfield is not provided for this shot.

A composite movie is included to illustrate how the layers were intended to be used.

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Ernie Wright (UMBC): Animator
Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Animator
Victoria Weeks (HTSI): Video Editor
Michael Starobin (HTSI): Producer
Amy A. Simon (NASA/GSFC): Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3616

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