Well, not actually more planets, but another arrangement of the same
planets.

Mike

FYI - I put this together for an intro Astronautics class to help students
visualize the scale of the planets with respect to each other.

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Attachments:
Download 'theplanets.jpg' (120 KB)

Preview of image 'theplanets.jpg'

Mike Sobers wrote:
> Well, not actually more planets, but another arrangement of the same
> planets.
> 
> Mike
> 
> FYI - I put this together for an intro Astronautics class to help students
> visualize the scale of the planets with respect to each other.
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
The colors are a bit different from what we normally see. e.g. jupiter
is normally more red than brownish yellow. It is not clear to me if
e.g. Neptune and Uranus have their natural axis tilt. Uranus has not
enough features to see it, but Neptune seems a bit to straight up
to me. I also find it strange to seen highlights on planets, but that
is your freedom as an artist, I suppose.

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I like them. Hmmm, maybe some more saturation of the colors, or just a bit 
more light? I also believe to have heard that some more planets have (thin) 
rings.

It is a great idea to place all planets with their natural size relations 
beside each other. That enables an easy comparizon. I agree with another 
posting before: moons would be a great addition to an already great work!

And the idea of a classical Greek column (the Greeks finally were the ones 
founding a good astronomical science) makes sense and looks good, too.

Gratulations! More! Soon!

Sven



"Mike Sobers" <sob### [at] mindspringcom> schrieb im Newsbeitrag 
news:web.44777f6d2bbdb5ef1009749b0@news.povray.org...
> Well, not actually more planets, but another arrangement of the same
> planets.
>
> Mike
>
> FYI - I put this together for an intro Astronautics class to help students
> visualize the scale of the planets with respect to each other.
>

Post a reply to this message

Among other things, Mike Sobers saw fit to write:

> FYI - I put this together for an intro Astronautics class to help students
> visualize the scale of the planets with respect to each other.

Maybe you could try texturing the gas giants more like... gas giants, i.e.,
use a less stony finish, maybe with some dense scattering media... I guess
that would't be  too realistic at this scale, but the column isn't exactly
realistic anyway ;) How about (a portion of) the Sun showing somewhere?

-- 
light_source{9+9*x,1}camera{orthographic look_at(1-y)/4angle 30location
9/4-z*4}light_source{-9*z,1}union{box{.9-z.1+x clipped_by{plane{2+y-4*x
0}}}box{z-y-.1.1+z}box{-.1.1+x}box{.1z-.1}pigment{rgb<.8.2,1>}}//Jellby

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Sven Littkowski wrote:
> It is a great idea to place all planets with their natural size relations 
> beside each other. That enables an easy comparizon. I agree with another 
> posting before: moons would be a great addition to an already great work!

Hint: look closely at the Earth :)

...Chambers

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Yes, Ben, the Earth has its moon, but merely any other of the planets. 
Especially having several moons around, would make this image even more 
interesting, I think.

Greetings,

Sven



"Ben Chambers" <ben### [at] pacificwebguycom> schrieb im Newsbeitrag 
news:44791fd2$1@news.povray.org...
> Sven Littkowski wrote:
>> It is a great idea to place all planets with their natural size relations 
>> beside each other. That enables an easy comparizon. I agree with another 
>> posting before: moons would be a great addition to an already great work!
>
> Hint: look closely at the Earth :)
>
> ...Chambers

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andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> The colors are a bit different from what we normally see. e.g. jupiter
> is normally more red than brownish yellow.

Actually, Jupiter is pretty close to natural color.  (I have a telescope.)
You're probably thinking back to the Voyagers images, which had exaggerated
color saturation.

Space probes don't return photographs; they send back enormous amounts or
data, which is then reconstructed into an image back here on Earth.  It is
people in front of color monitors that do the color balancing.  Whenever
you look at a color image from a space probe or a major observatory, look
for notes on color calibration or assignments.  All scientific color
composites should be accompanied by such notes.

As far as the other planets, Saturn is a bright pale yellow, Uranus is a
brighter green than is shown, and Venus is a boring, featureless white.
Mike is using a false-color ultraviolet image map for Venus.  (Hey,
everybody does it!)  Although i haven't yet observed Neptune, i believe it
is a blue-green color.  But talk to anyone who deals with color; it's a
tough call, it's subjective, and it's not really possible to declare what
the "real" colors are.

> It is not clear to me if
> e.g. Neptune and Uranus have their natural axis tilt. Uranus has not
> enough features to see it, but Neptune seems a bit to straight up
> to me. I also find it strange to seen highlights on planets, but that
> is your freedom as an artist, I suppose.

Uranus is rather featureless; as far as i know, only one person has seen
markings visually on that planet, and he doesn't count.  (He's a
vulcanologist living in Hawai'i, and astronomy buffs wonder if he has
bionic eyes.)  Earth has highlights on its oceans.

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Mike could you post the code?

Thanks,

Bret

"Mike Sobers" <sob### [at] mindspringcom> wrote:
> Well, not actually more planets, but another arrangement of the same
> planets.
>
> Mike
>
> FYI - I put this together for an intro Astronautics class to help students
> visualize the scale of the planets with respect to each other.

Post a reply to this message