Eyes on The Earth is a NASA website, where you can view the satellites that orbit the Earth in real time.
This page is interesting, but the Unity Web Player plug-in, consumes considerable computer’s resources when it’s activated for the first time. If the computer does not have enough memory, surely, a blue screen will be raise up indicating memory’s dump as a reaction against over-consumption.
After running the application (which delays some time) it can be seen the satellites categorized by the type of priority for which they were launched into orbit:
- Earth: E01, Grace, Icesat, Landsat7 and Terra
- Ocean: OSTM and Jason1
- Atmosphere: Aqua, Cloudsat, Acrimsat, Aura, Calipso, Quickscat, Sorce and Trmm
If I select the Landsat7, it is possible to zoom in and see how it is its vision and progress in real time. It can also be changed the rotation speed and view other information related with the objectives of each mission.
Warning:
The displayed view is about the satellite’s trajectory, showing whether it’s day or night; they aren’t shots in real time.
Rays!, I read this somewhere from La Mancha which I can’t remember (*)… so sorry for the backlinks.
TRANSLATION NOTES:
(*) This is quote (with little changes) is taken from the universal novel ‘Don Quijote de la Mancha’ written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra; which first paragraph begins with ‘Somewhere in a place of la Mancha which name I can’t remember…”