Google Maps just went out of the earth, literally. However crazy that might sound it’s a fact. In 2007, the spacecraft Cassini was launched from Cape Carnival. It had one sole mission, which was to discover the secrets of Saturn and its many moons. Throughout this entire mission, Cassini captured almost half a million pictures. This enormous number of pictures has helped the scientists to put all these planets and their moons into a map of the Galaxy with precise details, which was thought to be impossible to achieve even a decade ago. With the help of Google Maps, users can easily check all these places and many other planets and moons from their computers, laptops, or phones and all they have to do is to zoom out from Earth & go into space.
Starting from the icy plains of Enceladus, where Cassini discovered water beneath the moon’s crust, suggesting signs of life to the peer beneath the thick clouds of Titan, where methane lakes can be seen in the massive crater of Mimas, which in spite of looking like a sci-fi space station, is actually a moon – everything is possible to be Virtually explored & all you need is the Google map and an Internet connection. A massive total of 12 new planets & moons, including Pluto and Venus, are accessible now via Google Map.
This herculean task of assembling the planetary maps of Europa, Ganymede, Rhea, and Mimas was made possible by astronomical artist Björn Jónsson. He’s been working with imagery at NASA and the European Space Agency for a very long period.
