Tracker 3D
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Visual SAT-Flare Tracker 3D |
| | An unusual perspective of the
World
Earth and sky as seen from the International Space Station A spectacular
photograph taken from the ISS on the 28 of October
2010 shows many stars and the Earth during
nighttime around the south of Italy.
(Read more at http://www.spaceflightnow.com/station/exp25/101029cupola/)  (Photo by
NASA)
Despite
we usually need programs to simulate what we see in the sky
observing from the Earth, it is interesting to take a look at what we
could see looking down from satellites.
By using a new function of the "Visual SAT-Flare Tracker 3D" program it is possible now to place the observer aboard the satellite and to look around. To check this function, I have generated the same scene captured by the crew of the ISS. The results are visible in the following screenshot:  Fig. 1 - 3D Picture of the ISS view at 23.32.42 UTC. This picture tries to reproduce the same perspective of the original photograph. The
match of both the ground and the star positions is quite amazing; the
best result can be obtained
at about 23.33.40 UTC, which provides a good estimation of the camera
orientation and of the photo's time as well. In the
simulation, the camera was looking backward at about 15° off
(right) the ISS orbit and tilted about 20° toward the ground. The
camera field of view was set to 100°.
The
ISS position around the globe at the simulation time is represented in
the next picture; the white circle represents the visibility area of
the ISS (satellite at about 350 km above the Earth surface):
 About 4 minutes later the crew took another photograph, whose full resolution file is available at the following link: http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-25/hires/iss025e009858.jpg  (Photo
By NASA)
The Visual SAT-Flare Tracker 3D is now also able to generate stereographic pictures and videos (cross eyed stereo) of the ISS "flight". The following screenshots show five 3D stereo representations of the ISS view taken every 1 minute. How to see these pictures? these pictures can be seen crossing the eyes at about half a meter from the screen. A good explanation can be found here: http://www.starosta.com/3dshowcase/ihelp.html  Fig. 3 - 3DS Pictures of the ISS view at 23.33.42 UTC  Fig. 4 - 3DS Pictures of the ISS view at 23.34.42 UTC  Fig. 5 - 3DS Pictures of the ISS view at 23.35.42 UTC  Fig. 6 - 3DS Pictures of the ISS view at 23.36.42 UTC  Fig. 7 - 3DS Pictures of the ISS view at 23.37.42 UTC The same "flight" can be seen in a 3D stereo video; click on the following picture to start it. After a few seconds of real time video, the speed is increased.  |