Astronomy enthusiasts have something to be excited about today. For the first time in history, anyone with a computer and internet access will be able to explore the moon in virtual reality.
In honour of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, Google has launched its Moon in Google Earth. Through this neat tool, which acts like Google Earth (but is, as the name suggestions, for Earth’s moon), is like an interactive 3D atlas of the moon.
After downloading the tool, users can take tours of landing sites, as narrated by Apollo astronauts, view 3D models of landed spacecraft, view panoramic images of the lunar surface, zoom into 360 degree views of astronauts’ footprints, and watch rare TV footage of Apollo missions. Moon fanatics can even discover locations of the various space debris left behind by missions to the moon since 1969.
The tool is an addition to Google Earth 5.0, and allows users to zoom on the moon in the same fashion they are able to zoom in on Earth’s streets using Google’s Street View web service.
Four different types of data have been included in Google Moon. There is visible imagery taken by the Clementine Mission, a lunar terrain map to view elevation, a collection of placemarks detailing the Apollo missions, and there are also geologic and topographic maps available for users, which were used in Mission Control for the Apollo missions.
To access the tool, users can download and open Google Earth 5.0, and switch modes from ‘Earth’ to ‘Moon’ on the top toolbar.
Excitingly, the virtual moon tours are guided by none other than famed astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17).
Moon in Google Earth is the most recent tool to be launched as a result of Google and NASA’s Space Act agreement, signed in November 2006. The agreement established a relationship between the two monolithic organizations “to work together on a variety of challenging technical problems” (according to NASA’s press release), including human-computer interfaces.
On its FAQ page, Google explains that it’s difficult to assess the accuracy of the maps and information, due to the extreme distance of Earth’s moon. Its data has been aligned with the most up-to-date information available on the moon, the Unified Lunar Control Network 2005, but Google explains that even this information will need updating once the next generation of lunar mapping satellites arrive at the moon (though it doesn’t say when this will happen).
The charts are even less reliable, according to Google, since they were made before the updated coordinate systems existed and are thus only approximations.
Nevertheless, it’s a pretty cool tool that combines much of our information about the moon, which NASA explains that up until now, was scattered in different places, difficult for non-experts to understand, and relatively unavailable to the public.
Kaila Krayewski is a freelance journalist with a passion for all things internet. Having worked for nearly two years as the public relations manager for an internation search engine optimization company, and publishing hundreds of articles (how-to, informational, and otherwise) on SEO, she knows a thing or two about the field. Furthermore, having just started up her own website blondetraveler.com, she is doing her best to keep one step ahead of the search engines in order to keep the traffic flowing.
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