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Post by auntym on Oct 16, 2017 12:37:29 GMT -6
www.cnet.com/news/google-maps-planets-moons-space-venus-pluto-saturn-nasa/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0b&linkId=43561429 Google Maps goes off-world to explore Pluto, Venus, moons More planets and a handful of Saturn's and Jupiter's moons get the Google Maps treatment. by Amanda Kooser / www.cnet.com/profiles/akooser/October 16, 2017 Explore Venus and other objects in the solar system in Google Maps. Google Maps/Screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNETYou have an important business meeting at Wawalag Planitia on Venus, but you've never been there. Before you launch your spacecraft, you pull it up on Google Maps to get your bearings. This might sound a little forward-thinking, but the future is now. Google just added three planets and nine moons to Google Maps. The heavenly bodies include Saturn moons Dione, Enceladus, Iapetus, Mimas, Rhea and Titan, and Jupiter moons Europa, Ganymede and Io. Google also added dwarf-planets Pluto and Ceres and full-planet Venus. Once inside Google Maps for planets, you can spin the space objects around, get more information on their place names and zoom in for a closer look. The new worlds are possible thanks to imagery from NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's dearly departed Cassini spacecraft sent back a treasure trove of views of Saturn's moons. If you have a few moments to spare, fire up a browser, go to your current location on Google Maps, enter satellite mode and hit the zoom-out button until you've left the planet and are "floating" in space. A list of available planets and moons pops up on the side and you're off on your space adventure. Google has dabbled in space exploration before with a Google Street View tour of the International Space Station. Mars, Mercury and the moon were already on Google Maps, but these new additions definitely expand your exploration options. www.cnet.com/news/google-maps-planets-moons-space-venus-pluto-saturn-nasa/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0b&linkId=43561429TOUR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WITH GOOGLE MAPS: www.cnet.com/news/tour-the-international-space-station-with-google-street-view/
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Post by auntym on Oct 19, 2017 13:38:23 GMT -6
www.geekwire.com/2017/google-maps-expands-interplanetary-domain-way-pluto/ Google Maps expands its interplanetary domain all the way out to Plutoby Alan Boyle / www.geekwire.com/author/alanboyle/ October 18, 2017 You can get an annotated view of Pluto from Google Maps. (NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Google)If you zoom way, way out on Google Maps, you can now find your way around places like Sputnik Planum, Seville Mons, Aphrodite Terra and Damascus Sulcus. Those are destinations on Pluto, Iapetus, Venus and Enceladus, just made available for virtual exploration by the Google Maps team in cooperation with astronomical artist Björn Jónsson, NASA and the European Space Agency. The best way to start is with a far-out view of Google Maps, which will get you situated with a choice of 17 realms to explore. You can zoom in on Earth, of course, or take a spin through the International Space Station. You can also explore the moon and Mars, which have been part of the Google universe for years. But for something more exotic, check out the pockmarked surface of Io, a moon of Jupiter that’s considered the most volcanically active world in the solar system (yes, counting Earth). Or Enceladus and Titan, two Saturnian moons that are considered potential homes for subsurface marine life. (Damascus Sulcus is one of the “tiger stripes” through which the late, lamented Cassini orbiter saw water spewing.) Google Maps’ view of Pluto sports a host of relatively recent place names, including the 14 labels that received the International Astronomical Union’s blessing last month as well as informal names that the IAU hasn’t yet approved. And if scanning the solar system gives you a bad case of extraterrestrial wanderlust, interplanetary travel posters from NASA, SpaceX and artists Tyler Nordgren and Steve Thomas just might help chase those earthbound blues away. www.geekwire.com/2017/google-maps-expands-interplanetary-domain-way-pluto/
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Post by swamprat on Nov 28, 2017 17:44:29 GMT -6
Google Maps Lets you Explore These 6 Extraterrestrial WorldsBy Zayan Guedim November 28, 2017
Trumping Google Earth, Google Maps can leave Earth behind. Now, instead of zooming into places around Earth, Google Maps lets you zoom out to check some planets and moons in our solar system.
Google Earth allows anyone with an internet connection to orbit our home planet.
In 2005, to celebrate the 36th anniversary of the first manned landing on Earth’s satellite, Google launched a new service, Google Moon, which allows users to explore lunar maps.
Then, it was Mars’s turn with another application, Google Mars, using images provided by NASA.
Now, Google Maps has been expanded to include, in addition to the ISS, 16 planets and moons in the solar system. To access the dedicated menu with the list of moons and planets to explore, just click on the satellite tab and zoom out until you can see Earth as a whole.
Google Maps Planets was launched in honor of the Cassini mission grand finale, which you can read more about here. Before plunging into Saturn, Cassini (1997-2017) has sent back, over the years, more than half a million images that helped virtually render these exotic worlds.
Among the virtual space excursions offered, here are our picks:
1. The International Space Station (ISS) Orbiting Earth at more than 17,000 mph and at an average altitude of about 250 miles, the ISS is worth checking out. Google Maps Planets now offers you a 360°virtual tour inside and outside the station. Go to it here: www.google.com/maps/space/iss/@29.5602853,-95.0853914,2a,75y,223h,93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1szChzPIAn4RIAAAQvxgbyEg!2e0!7i10000!8i5000
Inside, you can have a spectacular view of Earth in the Cupola module or check other modules and click on the interactive points to learn more about this wonderful piece of space hardware.
2. The Moon After the Sun, the Moon is the most prominent celestial body visible to the naked eye, and until now, the only extraterrestrial place where humans left their footprints.
Feel tempted by a view of the Mare Tranquillitatis (the Sea of Tranquility)?
The Moon section uses images courtesy of NASA and the ESA (European Space Agency). Some lunar views of our satellite are in high definition but other shots are of lower resolution: www.google.com/maps/space/moon/@0,3.7237041,16828443m/data=!3m1!1e3
3. Mars We can’t get enough of Mars, can we? Perhaps the most favorite destinations on the list, Mars is the most documented planet in our Solar System other than the Earth.
Here’s the link to Mars! Zoom in and get lost on the Martian surface: www.google.com/maps/space/mars/@0,3.7237041,12381258m/data=!3m1!1e3
The virtual tour lets you explore plains, famous craters and other landscape highlights of the Red Planet.
4. Enceladus Since Enceladus, one of Saturn’s natural satellites, was discovered by William Herschel in 1789, it still stirs up curiosity.
In 2015, the Cassini probe had discovered the existence of a global ocean beneath the icy crust of Enceladus, which now you can check out with Google Maps Planets: www.google.com/maps/space/enceladus/@0,3.7237041,12381258m/data=!3m1!1e3
5. Mimas Here’s another icy moon of Saturn discovered the same year as Enceladus and by the same man.
Mimas may be especially interesting for Star Wars fans, and sci-fi because it suspiciously looks like the fictional Death Star, the Empire’s planet-destroying superweapon.
You can look for yourself and inspect Mimas and its massive Herschel Crater. And before you do, NASA assures you it’s a natural moon and not an alien space station! www.google.com/maps/space/mimas/@10.3104264,-146.1427462,12381258m/data=!3m1!1e3
6. Pluto Pluto might be a dwarf planet, but it is the biggest one known in the Solar System and has its share of wonders that deserve a (virtual) detour.
Under Pluto’s crater-ridden surface, New Horizon might have detected signs of water and other phenomena that increase the planet’s appeal: www.google.com/maps/space/pluto/@10.3104264,-146.1427462,12381258m/data=!3m1!1e3
Other destinations currently covered by Google Maps include planets other than Mars (including Mercury and Venus), another dwarf planet other than Pluto (Ceres), and the moons Europa, Io, Rhea, Dione, Iapetus, and Titan.
edgylabs.com/google-maps-lets-you-explore-these-6-extraterrestrial-worlds
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