(via) We’re digging this short film on “The Overview Effect”, or how space travel irrevocably changes how astronauts view the planet and mankind’s place upon it. ”Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.” It arrives 40 years after the world first saw the “Blue Marble” photo of earth, the first of the planet ever taken from space.
When faced with the conundrum of how to spread the word about a small, Baltimore area restaurant chain client, the creatives at Bark Marketing decided to forego the low-hanging fruit of “it’s out of this world” PR and literally shoot the product into space…
Sticky Rice launched a sushi plate of their popular Godzirra roll on January 1st of this year. Six months of planning and testing went into this project as a lot of variables were at play: -60F in space, FAA regulations, overheating or freezing batteries, GPS issues, stabilization, and how to make the damn sushi stay together in high winds.
Gulp. This new and exquisitely unnerving animation is a view of the solar system showing the locations of all the asteroids and Near Earth Objects “discovered” over the last thirty years.
As asteroids are discovered they are added to the map and highlighted white so you can pick out the new ones. The final colour of an asteroid indicates how closely it comes to the inner solar system. Earth Crossers are red. Earth Approachers (perihelion less than 1.3AU) are yellow. All others are green
Notice how the pattern of discovery follows the Earth around its orbit, most discoveries are made in the region directly opposite the Sun. You’ll also notice some clusters of discoveries on the line between Earth and Jupiter. These are the result of surveys looking for Jovian moons. Similar clusters of discoveries can be tied to the other outer planets, but those are not visible in this video.
As the video moves into the mid 1990′s we see much higher discovery rates as automated sky scanning systems come online. Most of the surveys are imaging the sky directly opposite the sun and you’ll see a region of high discovery rates aligned in this manner.
At the beginning of 2010 a new discovery pattern becomes evident, with discovery zones in a line perpendicular to the Sun-Earth vector. These new observations are the result of the WISE (Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer) which is a space mission that’s tasked with imaging the entire sky in infrared wavelengths.
Currently we have observed over half a million minor planets, and the discovery rates snow no sign that we’re running out of undiscovered objects.
But not to worry, darlings. Jupiter has all our backs.