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If aliens are watching us, here's a way to see what they're seeing: forty fantastic images from the Smithsonian Institution provide detailed satellite pictures of the Earth. They're on view at Stamford Museum and Nature Center, and are as beautiful as they are sometimes puzzling and mysterious. A massive hurricane looks like it has swirling arms. Kansas farmland lays itself out as a series of stripes. The Great Pyramids cast giant black shadow triangles. These and more are among the satellite images in the exhibit "Earth from Space," which also illustrates how satellite imagery is gathered and what it is used for. The remote sensing technology used to collect the images is also demystified, as are the individual satellites whose images are displayed.
An animated Magic Planet digital video globe, a digital display with a sphere-shaped screen, gives a 3D-ish look at pictures rhese sophisticated imaging satellites collect when circling the Earth. These high-tech machines capture the Earth's extraordinary conditions and events which are basically impossible to see without the satellites' perspective.
"Earth from Space" was developed by the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). It runs until August 8. The museum's hours are: Monday - Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5-$10. For more information, visit the Stamford Museum's website.
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