Solar System Simulator
http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

David Seal, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) / National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) / National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)


This site renders images of celestial bodies within our solar system. The simulator software looks up the positions of the Sun, planets and satellites from ephemeris files developed at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), as well as star positions and colors from a variety of stellar databases, and uses special-purpose renderers to draw a color scene. Texture maps for each of the planets and physical models for planetary rings have been derived (in most cases) from scientific data collected by various JPL spacecraft. Users can then request a rendered image of any celestial body from any other celestial body on the date of your choice (1600 to 2300). Users specify date and time, field of view, and whether orbits and constellation lines are to be depicted. Archived images (both rendered and actual) are available, as are simulated views from Cassini and Galilleo, and locations of current comets. The following named bodies can be rendered: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Phobos, Deimos, Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganeymede, Callisto, Saturn, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Lapetus, Uranus, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Miranda, Neptune, Triton, Pluto, Charon, Solar system, Cassini trajectory, Galileo trajectory, Comet Wild-2 trajectory, and the Voyager trajector.

This description of a site outside SERC has not been vetted by SERC staff and may be incomplete or incorrect. If you have information we can use to flesh out or correct this record let us know.


This resource originally cataloged at:

DLESE

Subject: Geoscience:Lunar and Planetary Science
Grade Level: General Public
Theme: Teach the Earth:Course Topics:Planetary ScienceKeywords: Solar system imagery, Sun, Mercury,Venus, Earth, Moon, Pluto, Charon, Orbit, Planets, Mars, Phobos, Deimos, Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganeymede, Callisto, Saturn, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Lapetus, Cassini spacecraft, Galileo spacecraft, Voyager spacecraft, Uranus, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Miranda, Neptune, Triton, Comet Wild-2