NASA's Eyes 1.0 beta

Space enthusiasts will find NASA’s Eyes an extremely interesting tool to learn more about our planet, our Solar System, exoplanets, and beyond. Besides you can also see, using NASA’s own images and in glorious 3D, where have all the different NASA missions taken us, or which satellites are now orbiting Earth, and where they are. You can play with time, and see what the universe looked like years ago and where our planet will be in days, months, or even years from now.

The program is divided into three main sections – Eyes on the Earth, Eyes on the Solar System, and Eyes on Exoplanets. Eyes on the Earth will allow you to enjoy real 3D satellite images of our planet, learn more about how we are interfering with its vital signs, and see its effects on glaciers, oceans, the atmosphere, or the ozone layer. You can also come “on board” of one of NASA satellites and orbit the Earth with it, or learn about every mission that NASA has launched to observe and study our planet.

A second bigger section will take you to the Solar System, and to all it contains, including all the objects we have sent out there for the last six or seven decades to explore planets and moons that we could only imagine. You can follow the Cassini mission and be there when it arrives at Saturn, land on Mars with Curiosity, or travel across our Solar System on board of Voyager.

A third section is devoted to the exoplanets, those planetary objects orbiting around any of the other suns that exist in our galaxy. You can see these other stars (or suns) and see how many planets orbit around them, take close-ups and learn more about their composition, and even how that other “solar system” compares to ours. Though still in beta version, this section is, by far, the most adventurous, taking you to the places difficult to imagine.

All three sections offer the same huge amount of data, of useful information, and of impressive images that will surely make your jaw drop. The 3D anaglyph images are astonishing, but even the standard 2D views of Earth and other planets, solar systems, and galaxies, will stun you. The possibilities are endless – the program offers you controls to zoom in and out, to move up and down, backwards and forwards, to travel in time and in space with a fidelity that will surprise you. It is free, and all space lovers should have it installed on their computers.