Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Planets and moons are now part of Google Maps - here are 6 incredible worlds you must explore

Google Maps doesn't have elevation data for Pluto's mountainous terrain, but the images are striking and fun to explore.

Google Maps doesn't have elevation data for Pluto's mountainous terrain, but the images are striking and fun to explore.

On the opposite side of the world is a big, fuzzy patch — and an exciting new space mission waiting to happen.

Pluto

Pluto

Until July 2015, no one knew what Pluto actually looked like. But the New Horizons mission changed all of that with a high-speed flyby — and discovered the distant, icy world even has an ocean hiding below its surface.

Ceres is littered with perplexing features, like these bright white spots in Occator Crater.

Ceres is littered with perplexing features, like these bright white spots in Occator Crater.

Researchers suspect they're salts left by melted ice. There's also a pyramid-shaped feature on the world.

Ceres

Ceres

This dwarf planet is the largest object in the Asteroid Belt (though you've probably never heard of it), and an exciting destination for NASA's Dawn mission.

NASA has repeatedly photographed and flown through water jets shooting out of these "tiger stripe" features on Enceladus' south pole.

NASA has repeatedly photographed and flown through water jets shooting out of these "tiger stripe" features on Enceladus' south pole.

That warm, salty water indicates the moon has an ocean that might be habitable to alien life.

Enceladus

Enceladus

This ice ball that orbits Saturn looks unassuming, but it is one of the most exciting destinations in the solar system right now.

Decades' worth of images and other data taken by satellites, including altitude information, allows you to get a feel for what it's like to travel through Martian canyons.

Decades' worth of images and other data taken by satellites, including altitude information, allows you to get a feel for what it's like to travel through Martian canyons.

The canyons are the deepest in the solar system. And if Elon Musk and SpaceX have their way, we may someday be able to explore them for real.

Mars

Mars

Peppered with volcanoes, deep canyons, and robotic probes, the red planet is easily the most fun to explore in Google Maps.

If you know where to look you can even track down moon landing sites, like this one of Apollo 15.

If you know where to look you can even track down moon landing sites, like this one of Apollo 15.

Earth's moon

Earth's moon

Striping is seen on many of the worlds in Google Maps because it layers the highest-resolution imagery available from NASA, ESA, and other sources over lower-resolution images.

Farther down the module, you can also check the station's spacesuits, called external mobility units.

Farther down the module, you can also check the station's spacesuits, called external mobility units.

Next to the toilet is the relatively new Water Recovery System.

Next to the toilet is the relatively new Water Recovery System.

The device collects astronaut urine, sweat, and breath, then recycles 93% of it into fresh drinking water.

International Space Station

International Space Station

Google Maps starts you out inside the Cupola module, a multi-pane window that looks down on Earth. Make sure to spin around and click Node 3: the home of NASA's famous Waste and Hygiene Compartment (a toilet).


Source: Business Insider India