Moon Landing Tapes Found! [more inside]
posted by sexyrobot on Jul 2, 2009 - 82 comments

The alphabet in satellite imagery of Slavonia. [via]
posted by parudox on Jun 29, 2009 - 7 comments

Hacking the Sky: Robert Simpson writes astronomy tools for use with Google Earth, Google Sky, and Twitter.
posted by Upton O'Good on Mar 4, 2009 - 5 comments

"They ran into each other. Nothing has the right of way up there. We don't have an air traffic controller in space. There is no universal way of knowing what's coming in your direction." An unprecedented collision of two orbiting satellites yesterday highlights the increasing threat of space junk.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot on Feb 11, 2009 - 51 comments

The GeoEye-1 (aka "The Google Satellite") took pictures of the inauguration from 423 miles up. The crowds of over a million around the Capitol and spilling up the Mall and around the city are a sight, even from space. GeoEye also offers a gallery of other impressive high-resolution satellite shots, including themed sections ranging from world universities (featuring great shots of the Head of the Charles Regatta) to natural disasters.
posted by blahblahblah on Jan 20, 2009 - 41 comments

Earth, observed. Standout photographs from NASA's Earth Observatory website.
posted by homunculus on Jan 14, 2009 - 11 comments

Approximately two years ago, James Kim died after he and his family were stranded, snowbound, in their car on the Oregon coast (Previously, previously, and (selflink) previously). But what if he'd had a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)? [more inside]
posted by scrump on Oct 30, 2008 - 36 comments

Baghdad nights: evaluating the US military ‘surge’ using nighttime light signatures (PDF). A team of UCLA geographers using satellite imagery to track the amount of light emitted in Baghdad at night found that electricity use in Sunni neighborhoods fell prior to the surge and never returned, indicating that ethnic cleansing by Shiite militias drove the Sunnis away before the surge began and was largely responsible for the subsequent decrease in violence. [Via Passport]
posted by homunculus on Sep 23, 2008 - 33 comments

The Weather World 2010 project at UIUC began as a comprehensive meteorology tutorial designed for a high school/undergraduate level. It has since expanded to include guides to remote sensing and reading weather maps. (Some highlights include optical effects, severe storms, and the basics of weather forecasting.) For folks in the US, it also has current surface and satellite imagery for a number of different atmospheric properties.
posted by Upton O'Good on Jul 13, 2008 - 6 comments

30 Incredible Abstract Satellite Images of Earth "From 400 miles away, the earth transforms into abstract art. The global landscape is impressionist, cubist and pointillist." Nice NASA images from 2000, downloadable as wallpaper.
posted by CunningLinguist on Jul 9, 2008 - 16 comments

Satellites Document War, Destruction From Outer Space. The AAAS's Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project uses high-resolution satellite photography to detect and call attention to human rights violations.
posted by homunculus on Jun 15, 2008 - 13 comments

Christopher Tarnovsky, smartcard programmer, gives a fascinating insider account of his years in the cloak-and-dagger world of satellite TV piracy. Tarnovsky began as a satellite pirate himself before being hired by a DirecTV contractor to develop anti-piracy electronic countermeasures; he was allegedly responsible for the "Black Sunday" attack on DirecTV pirates. [more inside]
posted by whir on May 31, 2008 - 13 comments

NPR article on World Where's Waldo Link to the website A Canadian woman made a giant waldo and put it on top of her house and is waiting for the google earth satellites to pick him up.
posted by majikstreet on Apr 16, 2008 - 14 comments

Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001, inventor of the telecommunications satellite and the only reason most geeks can find Sri Lanka on a map, has died shortly after celebrating his 90th birthday.
posted by Skorgu on Mar 18, 2008 - 292 comments

Discoveries made using satellite imagery, particularly via Google Earth, have made headlines in the blue and green before. Increasingly high-resolution photos, combined with obsessive interest, have lead inevitably to the next step: interpretation and analysis of spots on the Earth's surface for which information is restricted, censored, or classified, such as the preparedness of military defenses in North Korea and Iran, or the viability of Saudi Arabia's next big oil play. Of course, not all mapping is benevolent.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Mar 13, 2008 - 9 comments

A video has been posted showing the shooting down of satellite USA193 high over the Pacific! [more inside]
posted by 6am on Feb 21, 2008 - 54 comments

The most interesting spots on Google maps.
posted by desjardins on Dec 14, 2007 - 33 comments

HobbySpace hosts an exhaustive collection of information and links about space-related hobbies, including amateur astronomy, satellite design, and rocketry for both beginners and experts.
posted by Upton O'Good on Dec 2, 2007 - 3 comments

Landsat Image Mosaic Of Antarctica UK and US researchers peice together the most detailed map of Antarctica yet, searching through years of data to find cloud free images.
posted by Artw on Nov 27, 2007 - 17 comments

Video (8MB, MPEG) of arctic sea ice extent, recorded from January to September 2007. [other formats] This summer a dramatic decrease compared to previous years in the extent of the north pole ice cap was observed. Scientists are freaked out [bugmenot]. This summer, the Northwest Passage was open for a few weeks, allowing three ships to traverse it. [more inside]
posted by sergeant sandwich on Oct 12, 2007 - 32 comments

Fifty years ago this week the heavens beeped (also, the beeps as recorded in Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Washington - though the accompanying light in the sky wasn't Sputnik after all). The launch of Sputnik started the Space Age causing a stir in the United States, and leading to the birth of NASA. The history and ongoing echoes of the Sputnik launch are wonderfully covered in a recent New York Times retrospective with interesting accompanying videos.
posted by blahblahblah on Sep 30, 2007 - 26 comments

Steve Fossett Missing: Help find him by searching satellite imagery
posted by nthdegx on Sep 9, 2007 - 66 comments

High resolution images of Earth. The German satellite TerraSAR-X was shot into space on June 15, and already four days after sent some beautiful pictures back to Earth. Pictures are described in German, but you'll figure it out.
posted by Glow Bucket on Aug 13, 2007 - 17 comments

Fighter jets, overturned tractor trailers, WW II bombers, cars parked on walls, and more of The Strangest Sights in Google Earth
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Jul 27, 2007 - 53 comments

Real time satellite tracking - another interesting use of Google Maps, Ajax, and orbital telemetry.
posted by Burhanistan on Jul 5, 2007 - 10 comments

Watch Iran's new media coup, Press TV, online and take a look at its news website.
posted by hoder on Jul 4, 2007 - 35 comments

Satellite images reveal shrimp trawlers' turbulent trails. Vessels turn firm sea bottoms into ooze, destroying habitats. [Via Gristmill.]
posted by homunculus on May 12, 2007 - 11 comments

Live, From Outer Space: rural fires [1, 2], The Haze in China [1 ,2, 3] and its movement, aerosols, and the brothers carbon monoxide [a photochemical smog agent] and carbon dioxide.
posted by trinarian on Apr 14, 2007 - 10 comments

Have you ever wondered what a solar eclipse would look like from space? The STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) has just sent back its view (awe-inspiring video included). It has also sent back some gorgeous pictures of our sun (and the McNaught Comet). For more media, check out the other galleries (including some 3D images). For more about the project, see NASA's STEREO homepage. Be sure to also stop by the Johns Hopkins University STEREO Page, where you can download a mission guide (pdf), view animations, watch a video of the launch, or even make your own papercraft STEREO model (pdf). You can also learn more in six minute segments with their series of short educational videos.
posted by wander on Mar 13, 2007 - 15 comments

Beirut: Before and After
posted by poweredbybeard on Sep 5, 2006 - 44 comments

Spin, exposed live and wriggling. In 1995, Brian Springer released an hour-long documentary film comprised of incredibly revealing moments caught from raw satellite feeds. Not only do we get to hear the spin-doctor coaching candidates received during various commercial breaks, there are also some amazing moments such as Larry King suggesting to Clinton that Ted Turner could "serve him," an anchor suggesting to her expert that during the L.A. riots his frank diagnosis of inner-city hope is "too obtuse," and the exclusion and exclusion of Larry Agran from the 1992 Democratic primaries — and, really, there's much more.
posted by WCityMike on Jul 4, 2006 - 23 comments

TRACE - The Transition Region and Coronal Explorer , a solar telescope satellite. Launched in 1998, it has since taken millions of pictures of the sun and its many spots, prominences, and filaments. There are thousands of amazing images for you to browse, some with extensive explanations. There are movies as well, strange and beautiful. And don't be ignant, get your sun facts straight!
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Jun 12, 2006 - 9 comments

Fabio Feminò has an enormous collection of science fiction magazines to share with us. AWESOME!
posted by tellurian on Apr 4, 2006 - 5 comments

New Zealand's monopoly Pay TV service went dark for about 14 hours last night. The Sky TV outage was apparently due to an error positioning a satellite, but not helped by the fact that said satellite is running on a backup processor and is years out of its regular service life. One enterprising viewer is taking things into his own hands.
posted by pivotal on Mar 30, 2006 - 29 comments

Oprahhhhh Froooooom Sppaaaaaaaaacccceee... and other interesting landmarks via The World According to Google.
posted by Saucy Intruder on Mar 23, 2006 - 25 comments

Windows Live Local Orgasmically merges street level imagery with satellite to create virtual streetwalks (For Seattle or San Francisco anyway)
posted by marvin on Feb 28, 2006 - 24 comments

Google's UK satellite photos have been drastically improved
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome on Feb 5, 2006 - 72 comments

Suitsat is ready to launch. Know it (wmv). Watch it. Track it. (previously)
posted by pantsrobot on Feb 3, 2006 - 15 comments

I Spy Black Satellites Amateur satellite spotters can track everything government spymasters blast into orbit. Except the stealth bird codenamed Misty
posted by Postroad on Feb 1, 2006 - 16 comments

accurate weather forecasts...yes... Add your own sound effects.
posted by longsleeves on Dec 22, 2005 - 6 comments

I noticed tonight that my Dish TV basic-subscription service no longer offers MSNBC and suddenly does offer FOX News. Strange indeed, but the bigger issue methinks is a potential plus in that a la carte programming may be on its way soon. Great, you say, right? Perhaps not -- because if you only pay for what you get, that means that the little guys (like Link TV, the RFD network and Free Speech TV) likely face a big honkin' challenge in being visible and thus viable. So. Given that...do we really want pay-per-channel programming? Or is this just a moot point considering that "convergence" is creeping ever so closer?
posted by diastematic on Dec 16, 2005 - 53 comments

Deep Space and The Good Earth: pretty picture shows. (flash)
posted by fungible on Nov 16, 2005 - 8 comments

Hi-res satellite photos of Earth Four pages worth, desktop wallpaper sized.
posted by jonson on Sep 22, 2005 - 29 comments

Google Earth Threatens Democracy - Again! Sequel to an earlier article at The Register, here are some Google Earth shots of things which some would rather keep non-public, such as the recently uncensored White House roof or Russian nuke silos(page 1), or which stealth aircraft are parked at which air bases(page 3). Find more and send them in for their next dispatch.
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Sep 21, 2005 - 12 comments

Google Earth threatens democracy The planet's military bases apparently cannot hide from Google's all seeing eye.
posted by thecollegefear on Sep 13, 2005 - 30 comments

Lucy and Ethiopia From a favorite mailing list, I receive my dose of satellite images. One of the images this week is from Ethiopia. Reading the text they provide, you’ll see this is the area where ‘Australopithecus afarensis’ hails from; she is know as Lucy to most of us. Why Lucy? Because Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was playing on the radio when they found her. The site also lead me to this guy, who has the title Paleo-Artist and has rather interesting artwork on his site.
posted by fluffycreature on Sep 8, 2005 - 1 comment

Next generation page for weather sat info Tutorial is attached to the "New User" button. This is nice. "Purpose" is some Flash thing I can't read but the weather satellite maps (USA, for now) are very nicely done. You can see the lights coming on as the sunset line sweeps across the country. Except, of course, where they're off ...
posted by hank on Sep 7, 2005 - 4 comments

Zoomable satellite shot of New Orleans taken Wednesday morning [via Drudge]
posted by trinarian on Sep 2, 2005 - 22 comments

Time-lapse videos of hurricanes from space from Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center's Camex-4 Hurricane study. [note: Quicktime]
posted by crunchland on Aug 30, 2005 - 10 comments

Satellite photos of airplanes in flight. This is a great time-waster, but for some reason I keep looking for more (you may need to adjust the zoom bar on the page to maximum). These are all at the Atlanta airport, and I was surprised how close they were to each other.... check out the one that left before, and the one before that, and the one before that... Those are all taking off, here's one that's landing. Can anybody find any more? Or does anyone care?
posted by centerpunch on Aug 28, 2005 - 55 comments