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3D View of Earth From Space
Pretty Pictures, the better to save the world
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Imagine looking at this point . in this text. There is a particular triangle here; its three corners are your two eyes and that point. Now consider only one of the angles in the triangle, the angle formed as we follow lines from the left eye to the point, and then from the point to the right eye.

Now replace the point with the Earth, and extend that angle out to the geosynchronous orbit. Pick two satellites with cameras, that happen to be at the places where the angle intersects the orbit.

Tell the satellites to take simultaneous pictures of the Earth. Post the pictures as stereoscopic pairs. I want to use the one-eye-per-image trick to see the whole Earth, fully illuminated, in 3D.

Please!

See, if you remember how the original whole-Earth-from-space pictures affected people, raising consciousness about how we need to care for this place where we all live...

--Well, I think the effect will work better if the world can be viewed in 3D instead of 2D.


Vernon, Apr 11 2008

Some computer-generated 3D images http://www.the-sola...rth/3d-gallery.html
This site explains how to view the images to get the 3D effect. I just want real pictures, not those fakes! [Vernon, Apr 11 2008]

Live Globe LiveGlobe
No special glasses needed. Oh, no, wait a moment, yes, they are. [DrCurry, Apr 11 2008]

DUSAT http://asri.technio...udentproj/dusat.htm
Proposal. [jutta, Apr 15 2008]

[link]






       But shirley the Earth at that sort of range is smoother than a billiard (pool) ball? What would be the point of a stereo image?   

       You will see it as a SPHERE, not as a disc. Also, remember what telescopes can do to enhance a view. I'm pretty sure many geosync satellites have some telescopic capability, if they have cameras.

Vernon, Apr 11 2008
  

       Didn't we do a globe with the image of the Earth projected on its surface? Don't get more 3D than that.

DrCurry, Apr 11 2008
  

       Aren't there illuminated globes already? How high of resolution do you want? Why do the satellites have to be so far? Why do you want it illuminated? The Earth isn't illuminated.

BJS, Apr 12 2008
  

       If it were basically live, i think that would add a dimension, as it were. I particularly wonder if the clouds could be discerned as floating above the surface,or if not those, the aurorae. The Moon would add to the spectacle.

nineteenthly, Apr 12 2008
  

       "If it were basically live", yes, unless you were interested in the dark part, or the part under the clouds.

cblunds, Apr 15 2008
  
      
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