h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

205 years ago... in Paris... a duel...

In BALLOONS!

http://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2012/08/24/the-first-duel-fought-in-hot-air-balloons-paris-1808/

There's even footage of this on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McFj_vq3cwk#t=0m20s

Below are two similar videos. The each show the moon rising with people silhouetted in the foreground. Each is an absolutely amazing view on its own.

Watch this one first.
http://vimeo.com/58385453

Wait, it gets better. Now watch this one.
http://vimeo.com/56298775


Compare the two views. Notice the orientation of the moon surface features and the apparent direction the moon rises. The view is due East in both but the first is from the Southern Hemisphere and the Second from the Northern. When your brain reconciles the two views it gives you a very good sense of perspective regarding the size, shape and rotation of Earth.

Very

I love these 360° Cities interactive panoramas. This one is very amazing. And it's pretty fresh, as well. It's from the Mars Curiosity Rover and it shows the fresh drill holes that were made this week. In the image are also links to other panoramas both nearby from the Curiosity, a bit farther away from Spirit and one from very far away which you can follow to many other sights.

Share & Enjoy

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/02/curiosity-drill-panorama/

Good grief. I can't begin to count how many times I've been through those doors http://www.360cities.net/image/potters-bar-train-station-england/?from=map,51.59840,0.07553,10#235.99,9.60,85.1

Tell me you navigated to there from Mars.

Indirectly, I did

Heh... I thought I'd see where I could get to from there. I thought it might be a few clicks before I could find my way somewhere either near by here, or somewhere "quite interesting".

Well, my first click from the station took me to an open field with a girl and her hawk[?]. And the next click took me to a bed in Tahiti with a blonde girl in it. [SFW]

http://www.360cities.net/image/in-bed-with-mathilde#692.78,28.52,110.0

I saw that link in one of the images I looked at... from Essex. But I didn't go there, I sort of filed it away for later use cos it was getting late and I know that websites like that can easily suck two hours or more out of my day before I realise it

Once you leave Mathilda in bed, there are some beautiful tropical shores. So far, I've made it to Alaska (via Israel and Genoa). I'm trying to click at least one nearby link before another a far far away.

This site is a real time suck. Luckily, I've got some time to kill as I'm currently scanning some images that actually have lots of detail (moon mapping still) and the computers can automate most of it. It's kinda messed up that when the images I'm scanning are more interesting, the less I need to look at them. But when they're featureless, I've got to stare at them for hours.

Oh, well.

What do you have to look for on the images?

When I have to, I'm actually usually looking for dust spots or scratches. What I'm doing is trying to find matching points between sections of a panoramic image split into 8 scans. I can sometimes find individual boulders or small craters if the sunlight is from a more oblique angle. But when it's from directly above, which it normally is in these images, I can't make out any details in my scans as they're pretty washed out/over exposed. We can get some of the detail back by adjusting the image later.

Have a look.

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/apollo/browse?camera=P&mission=16

They start of nice, but after a few pages, you'll see what I'm talking about. And these have been corrected. I can't even see that much detail.

I see what you mean. Are the washed out images of any significant use? What are they used for?

They were originally taken to be used for mapping the moon's surface and looking for possible landing sites. Now we have the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter which takes much better imagery and can wait for the sun to be at a better angle.

What's really useful about my images is they can be compared to recent LRO images and look for changes. They've found a few. Some new craters, and some land slides.

But the main point of my job is to digitize the film so that it can then be properly archived in Washington, D.C.

How much film is there?

4904 48 inch frames over three missions, Apollo 15, 16 & 17. I'm nearly finished with AS16. I've got about 1900 frames to go.

You could put Parkinson's Law to good use there and spin that out until retirement if you're careful

Heh... I've been at it for 3 years so far. I've got at least another year and a half. I think I've looked at enough grey dirt for one lifetime.