Tag: Saturn

Amusing Pictures

What if Other Planets Were As Close As The Moon?

What would the sky look like if you could swap the moon for each of the other planets? Ron Miller, a former art director for NASA, superimposed the planets in place of the moon to create images which show their true size if placed that near to Earth.

The Moon

distance-of-moon-from-earth-in-sky
Picture by Ron Miller @ Black Cat Studios

What if a celestial body like Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system, was as close to the Earth as our moon? Would it fill the night sky? Illustrator and author Ron Miller sought to answer the question using the reference photograph above.

It’s important to note that this is strictly a visual exercise. If a planet like Jupiter were actually as close to Earth as the Moon, its immense gravitation would wreak havoc on our planet. So for the gallery below, please temporarily suspend your disbelief and just imagine how amazing it would be to see a planet like Saturn in such incredible detail.

For reference, the Moon is about 386,243 km (240,000 miles) from Earth and has a diameter of approximately 3,476 km (2,160 miles). The Earth’s diameter is 12,742 km (7,918 miles)

Venus

if-venus-was-as-close-to-earth-as-the-moon
Picture by Ron Miller @ Black Cat Studios

Mars

if-mars-was-as-close-to-earth-as-the-moon
Picture by Ron Miller @ Black Cat Studios

Jupiter

What if Other Planets Were As Close As The Moon?
Picture by Ron Miller @ Black Cat Studios

Saturn

if-saturn-was-as-close-to-earth-as-the-moon
Picture by Ron Miller @ Black Cat Studios

Uranus

if-uranus-was-as-close-to-earth-as-the-moon
Picture by Ron Miller @ Black Cat Studios

Neptune

if-neptune-was-as-close-to-earth-as-the-moon
Picture by Ron Miller @ Black Cat Studios

 

Amusing

Saturn Cassini Photographic Animation


5.6k Saturn Cassini Photographic Animation from stephen v2 on Vimeo.

Video Description:

Not-for-profit animated IMAX film in early production by a single filmmaker. Visit the site to make a tax-deductible contribution to support the film. I hope to present this clip at the international IMAX show (GSCA Expo) next month.

I’m very excited to present the first test from “Outside In” that actually represents real footage in progress from the film. Camera moves are still being tweaked and this is cropped version as IMAX-sized stuff does not play well online. But thanks to the new version of Adobe After Effects, “Outside In” can be made as I have always envisioned.

Much thanks to everyone who has supported and contributed to this. This is the beginning, just a taste of incredible things to come.

This is fly-through of this photograph – photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/​catalog/​PIA11141 – only a little brightness and contrast has been made to balance the moons with saturn’s body. Do note that several thousand layers of many Cassini photographs were animated to make the fly-through work without any 3D CGI. The saturation is off due to lack of Flash Player ICM support.

This is still a work-in-progress and it’s an art film, not a science film, but as new image data comes down I will tweak this shot for improved accuracy.