Does anyone have some good graphical resources of the Solar System?
I'm putting some things together for players, and have gone through a lot of NASA and Wikipedia resources. Got some things, but nothing Earth-shattering.
Especially, does anyone know or have a (vector if possible) Solar System map to scale with the correct orbits of the Solar objects (planets, dwarf planets, major asteroids), the spread of the Belts, and maybe the location of the Lagranges?
I find it strange the public NASA's site doesn't have it, but I can't find it...
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Solar System images?
Wed, 2010-12-29 23:07
#1
Solar System images?
Wed, 2010-12-29 23:28
#2
Re: Solar System images?
I did found this video that might be a good tool for players not familiar with astronomy or SF. It's short, and very demonstrative :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q
(can't find a way to embed it on the forum... is it possible?)
From this page with other similar resources: http://coswyn.com/2010/10/27/comprehending-creation-our-solar-system-gal...
Sat, 2011-01-01 15:58
#3
Re: Solar System images?
I would recommend getting Celestia and letting them play around a bit with it. Any map to scale will show tiny dots separated by enormous distances. That is an important lesson. Players also need to get to know the overall "topology" of the solar system (the order of the planets and moons, how the giant planets got their own little solar systems of moons etc). Having something you can zoom and fly through is very useful.
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Sat, 2011-01-01 22:48
#4
Re: Solar System images?
They need a new webmaster :) I spend some time looking at 3D interactive simulation of space, since I hit the same issues as anyone looking to map the Solar system (it just took me some time to understand those), and Celestia never show on any request I made.
Seems almost perfect yup, I'm downloading it right now.
Thanks.
Sun, 2011-01-09 00:44
#5
Re: Solar System images?
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/
this is an amazing accomplishment of humanity, it shows the real time locations of all the major celestial bodies and man made vehicles. the beta launched almost 2 months ago, and its FAR more stable since its release. the GUI is a little finicky, but its still nice.
for my campaign, i chose to assume the solar system to be static, i chose to make these locations according to how the solar system was on
May 8th, 1982 8:45 am.
because the planets were fairly linear. this is a FANTASTIC model for players who demand a level of realism, without over complicating things to severely. it would take less than an hour to plot the relative distances of every planetary body from every other planetary body. which are REAL distances, with a level of accuracy that is actually sort of absurd.
the REALLY nice thing is that if you zoom in, every moon and planet is textured with all the photography humanity has available. this will eventually expand to include neighboring star systems once it changes hands from the jet propulsion lab. (though it is powered by google)
Wed, 2011-02-16 10:56
#6
Re: Solar System images?
I was also going to give a shout out for Celestia - it's free, and if you have decent graphics hardware it can render the planets in photorealistic quality. It'll show you the solar system as it actually was or will be at any moment in time.
Also, if you have an iPhone or iPad then check out two apps called 'Moon Globe' and 'Mars Globe' - again, both free. They are astonishing, rendering both these worlds almost photorealisitcally. I use the moon one for astronomy, as you can accurately re-create the lighting on the moon's surface to look exactly like what you see through a telescope. But for game use, you can also spin the globe around and zoom in to any area, so it'd be great for moon or mars based adventures !
Thu, 2011-03-24 13:06
#7
Re: Solar System images?
I was hoping to find an image that shows all the major bodies in the system that are known, if indeed some brinkers or hypers are out in the oort cloud, I'd like more info on whats out there.
Baring that, I may have to make my own...
Thu, 2011-03-24 13:38
#8
Re: Solar System images?
You're going to have to hold out for Rimward for answers on that (but the short answer is 'Yes').