#NASATweetup: NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System in 3-D

Doug Ellison of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Demonstrates Eyes on the Solar System to NASA Tweetup Participants, Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Nov. 25, 2011 — Doug Ellison of Jet Propulsion Laboratory Demonstrates Eyes on the Solar System to NASA Tweetup Participants, Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Nov. 25, 2011

Totally Gnarly! Viewing Our Solar System in 3-D

Hop an asteroid, get up close to a satellite and see the ENTIRE Solar System move in real time or see it move in four days per second with NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System. It’s a pretty cool 3-D look at the universe compiled with real NASA mission data. The program, compatible on most operating systems (Windows and Mac OS X are okay but sorry Linux users, you’re out of luck right now), looks at 100 years in space from 1950 to 2050. Doug Ellison, Visualization Producer for Jet Propulsion Laboratory and founder of Unmannedspaceflight.com, introduced the website to participants of the Nov. 25 NASA Tweetup at Kennedy Space Center.

NASA Tweetup Participants Check Out Eyes on the Solar System with Hip 3-D Glasses, Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Nov. 25, 2011

New iPhone App “Earth Now” Coming Soon

Wouldn’t ya feel pretty powerful if you could hold the whole world in the palm of your hand? True, you can do it now with Google Earth on your smartphone but in the next couple of weeks (maybe sooner!), Ellison told the group NASA will release an iPhone application called “Earth Now.” See the Earth in real-time and view scientific data in action such as concentrations of carbon dioxide emissions. I don’t have a specific launch date other than “next couple of weeks.”

NASA has incredible data and uses it for the good of humanity. Later in the day, Lori Garver, the space agency’s Deputy Administrator, reminded us of NASA’s global reach with its scientific data. She gave an example of preventing the spread of disease with this information and said, “We know when to tell people in Africa to put up their nets to prevent them from getting malaria.”

Not sure about you but that’s pretty powerful. If you have a minute or so, visit Eyes on the Solar System (you’ll need to download the Unity 3-D plug-in) and surf our amazing solar system. There are helpful tutorials narrated by Ellison to assist in navigating the solar system.

Jenn

Jennifer A. Huber is an award-winning travel and outdoor blogger and writer in Southwest Florida. Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., a hiking trail led her to a career path in the tourism industry for more than 30 years. She spent a decade with a park management company in Yellowstone, Death Valley, and Everglades National Parks. She founded the travel blog, SoloTravelGirl.com with the goal of inspiring others to travel alone, not lonely. The unexpected death of her former husband in 2008 reminded her how short life is. His passing was a catalyst for sharing her experiences with the goal of inspiring and empowering others to travel solo. Jennifer holds a Travel Marketing Professional certification from the Southeast Tourism Society, is a certified food judge, member of the NASA Social community, and alum of the FBI Citizens Academy. When not traveling, she is either in the kitchen, practicing her photography skills, or road tripping with her dog, Radcliff.