Thursday, December 13, 2007

Lunar Surface In HD 3-D


People, this has got to be the coolest thing ever in the world, or should I say Solar System. Kaguya the Japanese Moon orbiter has released the first ever super high def 3-D images of the Lunar surface and released them in movie form!!! They were taken with Kaguya's onboard terrain camera, which is basically two cameras in one, one pointing forward and one pointing behind the orbiter, therefore being able to take stereoscopic images. There are 3 movies released, two of which can be viewed by the general population without 3-D glasses, the third or anaglyph images movie has to be viewed with 3-D glasses, which of course I just happen to have, and is it the sweetest thing ever, just feels and looks more real. You may ask how did I come by 3-D glasses. Good question, when I purchased my copy of Spy Kids 3-D Game Over , believe it or not came with 4 pairs of 3-D glasses! You may also ask, why I would purchase a copy of the kids movie Spy Kids 3-D game Over, because I used to be a spy kid when I was a kid. My parents bought me a Secret Sam outfit.




Secret Sam came with a gun you put together, white bullets, a cool periscope you could attached to the gun, so you could spy ducked down behind something, but the coolest thing you got with it is an actual working camera that as you can see from the lower left of the picture, fit into the briefcase, you could then close the case and activate the camera with a secret button on the outside of the case and take the enemy's picture like a spy without them knowing about it. I think that was the point when my love for cameras started, I just remember taking a lot of pictures with that camera and my Dad having to get them all developed the old way, you know we didn't have digital back when I was a kid, sorry for the major tangent, back to space stuff.




Not to be outdone NASA just released the highest ever resolution of a couple of Saturn's UFO shaped moons. Atlas 24x11 miles big and pan 20x13 miles big. Both images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft's narrow-angle camera. Both moons orbit around Saturn in Saturn's outer rings.

Saturn's rings formed due to a few major moons orbiting Saturn colliding, the resulting debris quickly fell into orbit around Saturn forming the rings we know of today, scientist figure that some smaller particles attached themselves to a couple of the larger core rocks forming the UFO shaped moons Pan and Atlas.

On a final note, don't forget the Geminid meteor shower starts tonight at around 9pm EST, look in the east for the constellation Gemini the radiant of the shower for the start of the show.

31 comments:

p said...

okay the lunar stuff is cool but i was more intrigued by your spy gun...man if i had one of those when i was a kid it would have changed who I bacame!!!

sometimes at night to the east in the early evening i see a 'star' but it is more yellow looking, is that a star or a satellite?

Bob Johnson said...

Hi Paula, the yellow orange thing is Mars. A lot of fun was had by all with my secret sam, I was the recon guy!

Anonymous said...

Great post Bob! Ummm, all I got was a GI Joe setup. The helmet, grenades, rifle and web belt. You had cool stuff!
Aren't those hres shots great! Almost like you can reach out and touch them.
~JD

Freddie L Sirmans, Sr. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bob Johnson said...

Thanks JD, yeah great shots, GI Joes are great I had some of them too, quite the collectors items now.

Nature Nut /JJ Loch said...

Bob,

Great post! What would I do without this astronomy blog! That shot of the moon by Kaguya rocks! And Saturns moons are not shaped like I thought they were.

I love that you had a Secret Sam Outfit.

If only the clouds would break tonight so I can catch a glimpse of the Geminids. :D

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks JJ, I know what you mean, it is cloudy again tonight may not get to see the Geminids again,:(

Peter said...

Hi! Bob. Great Story. I went to your links - it was totally awesome even without the 3D glasses. I just can't help thinking that maybe one day when they're doing all this, someone or something will be looking up waving.

The last time I saw a meteor shower was back in the early 80's. I was on night shift and as I looked up to the sky, thousands of meteors passed overhead. At the time, it was like experiencing some spiritual event.

Thank you for sharing this one! - Regards Peter

Bob Johnson said...

Hi and thanks Peter, Maybe they have edited the waving out,lol, Looks to be cloudy tonight for the meteor shower, but if you ever can don't miss them they are great.

tatyveli said...

Loved your post Bob, and the moon by Kaguya without the 3D glasses was quite a view still :) Thanks for teling us such catchy stuff - what would I do without your Astro blog? - be as blind as the rest of the world population I guess :) And unfortunately NO Geminids for me tonight either - too cloudy here ;( And hope to see them at other time, and for you to be still able to see and shoot a few shots for us all to see ;)
Tatiana

Oswegan said...

the moon cam is really cool.

nice write up.

~Oswegan

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks oswegan!

kml said...

Wow - those images are fantastic!

I didn't realize that Saturn's moons are so mis-shaped and so tiny.

Great post!

myonlyphoto said...

Bob the Secret Sam, cool, nice gun set and glad that you decided to play with the camera, lol, instead of guns. I used to have some secret weapons too, wooden, bomboos sticks, water guns, swords and air riffle. I think they are still around my house, probably under each bed and sofa in the house, lol. And back to space stuff, I missed the Geminid meteor shower due to major overcast. I think this year we are really haveing real winter with lot of snow and freezing rain, thus no luck with the sky. Oh well and I cannot wait until summer then, Anna :) BTW Very informative post, but love the Secret Sam story the best.

p said...

mars...thank you :)

Swubird said...

Bob:

Great post. Those Japanese pictures are absolutely the coolest thing ever saw. They make you feel like you are actually cruising across the moons surface. Where's your property again?

Bob Johnson said...

Hi Kathy, actually most of our planets moons are quite small, not like our cool Moon.

Bob Johnson said...

Hi Paula, your welcome, now you know what Mars looks like.

Bob Johnson said...

Hi Anna, you should gather all your weapons up, and take a pic and then put them away,lol. Too bad about the meteor shower, me too cloudy as usual, no meteors for me either

Bob Johnson said...

Hi and thanks swubird, they are too cool, I'll take a pic of my property when it is not cloudy, sometime next March and post it. :)

MYM said...

You're right...those pictures are amazing! Love the spy kit...you're a spy! I'm Johnson, Bob Johnson. cool.

Bob Johnson said...

Lol drowseymonkey, My pretend name was always James, because for some reason I always liked Jim and James for names, never had pretend last names for some reason.

myonlyphoto said...

Bob and why I didn't think about it, lol, wait I think I know. I keep them around just in case intruder comes around, so I am ready from each angle, lol. Been really reluctant in getting security in the house, if I can be one - why pay. Believe or not the sky was really clear next day, and the stars were really bright, I guess everything works in mystarious way, lol. Anna :)

Bob Johnson said...

Lol Anna, still waiting for the sky to come back, snow and clouds still

Lynda Lehmann said...

As always Bob, an interesting and informative post! That first shot is amazing!

I enjoyed your tangent, as well! Your parents didn't snuff your imagination--good for them!

Bob Johnson said...

Hi Lynda, glad you liked the tangent,:)

franx said...

Great post Bob you always know where is the planet

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Franx Budi!

Anonymous said...

great article i loved it

Bob Johnson said...

Hi and thanks i-martian, Merry Christmas !

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