Exploring raw data is closer to participating in electronic discovery than exploring an artists attempt at making a huge empty planet palatable to the spending consumer.
Here is an nice example showing how WISE (W3) images go from real raw data to science calibrated images: http://wise2.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/release/allsky/expsup/fig... (taken from http://wise2.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/release/allsky/expsup/sec...)
It was certainly cool to decode the raw stuff myself, although Iv'e been told so many times since I wrote that to either 'enjoy' the artistic version, or get some 'better' version of these things already transmogrified... But I wanted to do it myself!
It really did feel like I was accomplishing something when I got the first image to render, I guess it's the Ikea fallacy? Oh sure any idiot can click on a JPEG but can you follow well documented steps, and use a highly portable program to let you reproduce the same images?
Either way, I had fun doing it, although it feels like I did this a lot longer than a year ago...
agreed on the appeal of seeing celestial bodies "as if we were actually there"
As someone who often helps a spouse decode various police car/bodycams and random retail surveillance formats for court work, that always comes on DVDs, this makes me so jealous.
Imagine... having the source code to decode the image or video format right on the CD. In a portable C format.
And not having to install Windows XP to support whatever proprietary DRM'ed software that no longer has a support page on the internet, after 2hrs trying to get it working in a Windows 10 VM? Then leaving the whole OS VM installed on your laptop because you couldn't be bothered to do it twice...
I wish the local police hired NASA people to set up their systems.
You can literally write a parser from reading a couple of headers. Of course, it's much better to be provided with software that can handle all the nuisances of the format without having to test it when something fails on you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Saturn#Subdivisions_a...
SkyView was an app recommended to me, but it would be cool to have something a little more scientific. What’s a nerdier app I can’t try?
It has many features and takes quite a bit of exploring.
Sky View is nice but it’s a bit noddy: I couldn’t get it to break down the four big moons of Jupiter, which are so clearly visible, but I didn’t know which was which!
Not sure what the issue was here, I was able to mount the file just fine on my Windows 10 machine
I couldn't get them to mount on Windows 10, I ended up using MS-DOS to mount them. I've had this issue with a number of early 90's CD-ROM's that apparently violate the spec, including Microsoft Bookshelf
Can't test with MS bookshelf as there doesn't appear to be an ISO provided
EDIT: Nonetheless thank you for preparing these interesting images!
That video is gorgeous. "That' no moon!"
