Google Earth: Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene, which has already done some serious damage to Puerto Rico, was recently captured in stunning high resolution by NASA’s Terra satellite as it heads toward the east coast of the United States.

irene.jpg

You can view the image on NASA’s Earth Observatory website, or view it in Google Earth using this KML file. Be aware the KML is loading the full 5 MB file from NASA’s server, as it’s amazingly sharp, so it’ll take a few moments to load.

To track the Hurricane and view it’s forecasted track, turn on your Places layer and an icon will appear over the Hurricane. Clicking that icon will give you access to details about the Hurricane, along with historical data and various projected paths.

See also New York Times Hurricane Irene Tracking Map

Dakota handheld as a reward in new OpenCaching.com tour

 

As summer winds down, things are really heating up at OpenCaching.com. In addition to looking for our first class of OpenCaching.com ambassadors, Opie and our OC crew just announced their biggest sweepstakes yet. First we gave out limited-edition geocoins, then we awarded chirp wireless beacons to lucky cachers. That was just the start. Now we’re giving away Dakota handhelds to weekly winners throughout August. Starting Aug. 1 and going through Aug. 28, every 10 approved caches that you add will earn you an entry to win a Dakota 20 touchscreen handheld. While this specific sweepstakes is open to U.S. and Canadian residents, many of our international offices are cooking up exciting promotions to share with their respective countries as well.

Entering the Sweepstakes is easy (click here for official rules), as every 10 approved caches you add at OpenCaching.com will give you a chance to enter. Once you’ve entered, be sure to check your inbox to find out if you’ve won. We’ll notify each week’s winner the following week. And by all means, feel free to try, try again. After all, publishing caches doesn’t just push you closer to a chance at winning, it also gives your fellow cachers another chance to make great memories in their next outing. And if you’re a diehard cacher who just loves telling their friends about this popular pastime, be sure to click here to apply to become an official OpenCaching.com Ambassador.

Of the countless emails we get from happy OpenCachers, their most frequent request is that more of their fellow cachers would list their geocaches on OpenCaching.com! Know a fun place to visit near your home? Hide a cache for others to find. Already have caches listed on another site? We provide a page to easily import those listings and let others discover your caches. Whether your importing your existing caches or creating brand new ones, geocachers everywhere will benefit as a wider audience gets exposed to your creativity and enthusiasm for caching. Good luck, and happy caching and creating!

The Liquid Galaxy at the Space Museum in Washington

Thirty-five years ago this week, the Viking 1 lander touched down on the surface of Mars, beginning an olympian mission of exploration lasting more than 6 years. Today, the Liquid Galaxy immersive Google Earth display lands at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, in the “Moving Beyond Earth” exhibit.

 

Photo by Mark Avino, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

It’s part of the museum’s annual Mars Day! event, where visitors can learn about the red planet, past and future missions to Mars, and talk to scientists active in Mars research. Adding to the excitement, NASA has just announced the location of the landing site for the next mission to Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory. In November, this SUV-sized robot will make the leap into space and is expected to land in Gale Crater, to look for signs that Mars might have once harbored life.

Designed during engineers’ 20% time, Liquid Galaxy consists of several screens in a circular arrangement, all running Google Earth in parallel for an immersive virtual experience. Visitors can use the podium with touchscreen and a 3D mouse to navigate to an up-close and personal near-360-degree view of the landing site in Google Earth, as well as anywhere else on Mars, the Moon, and of course Earth.

Admission to the museum is free, so be sure to stop by the next time your travels take you to the capital of the United States. While you’re there, enjoy the largest collection of historic spacecraft and aircraft in the world, including a proof test article of the Viking Mars Lander. (Of course, the Viking 1 lander itself took a one-way trip!)

If you can’t make the trip to Washington or Mars yourself, you can always explore the Martian surface from the comfort of your own home using Google Earth, checking out the progress of the current crop of robot explorers, seeing the latest imagery from orbiting satellites or scouting out the Mars Science Laboratory’s future landing site for yourself.