Credits
Where the Earth comes from
- Day side: Blue Marble: Next Generation with topography and bathymetry (October 2004)NASA Earth Observatory, Reto Stöckli; data from NASA's Terra MODISscience.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/blue-marble-next-generation/base-topography-bathymetry
- Night side: Black Marble 2016, Earth at nightNASA Earth Observatory, Joshua Stevens; Suomi NPP VIIRS data from Miguel Román, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centerearthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/NightLights
- Clouds: Blue Marble cloud compositeNASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Reto Stöckli; enhancements by Robert Simmonvisibleearth.nasa.gov/images/57747/blue-marble-clouds
- Coastlines, ocean mask and relief: topography and bathymetry mapsNASA Earth Observatory, Jesse Allen; data from the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), British Oceanographic Data Centrescience.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/blue-marble-next-generation/topography-bathymetry-maps
- The Milky Way: Deep Star Maps 2020NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio. Gaia DR2: ESA/Gaia/DPACsvs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4851
- Bright stars: Yale Bright Star Catalogue, 5th revised editionHoffleit & Warren (1991), via the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS V/50)cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/V/50
- Orbits: two-line element setsCelesTrak (T.S. Kelso); propagated with satellite.js (SGP4/SDP4, MIT)celestrak.org
- 3D: three.js (MIT)three.js authorsthreejs.org
- Type: Geist and Geist Mono (SIL Open Font License)Vercelvercel.com/font
- Satellites and their orbits: CelesTrak GP data (active satellites) and SATCAT, refreshed at most every 6 hours, cached on this serverCelesTrak (T.S. Kelso), from the US Space Force's space-track.org datacelestrak.org
- Orbit propagation: SGP4/SDP4 (satellite.js)Shashwat Kandadai and contributors, after Vallado et al.github.com/shashwatak/satellite-js
- "Today below you": daily satellite imagery (VIIRS and MODIS corrected reflectance, true colour)NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS)earthdata.nasa.gov/gibs
- Sat cam by day: the detail of the Blue Marble Next Generation (MODIS, 2004, 500 m), via GIBSNASA Earth Observatory / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Blue Marble); NASA GIBSearthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/BlueMarble
- Sat cam by night: city lights from the Black Marble 2016 composite (VIIRS day/night band, 500 m), via GIBSNASA Earth Observatory / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Black Marble); NASA GIBSearthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/NightLights
- Countries below the satellites: Natural Earth 1:50m (public domain), via world-atlasNatural Earth; Mike Bostock (world-atlas)www.naturalearthdata.com
- Satellite one-liners, when marked AI: Claude (claude-haiku-5-5), written once per satellite from the catalogue's factsAnthropicwww.anthropic.com
- 3D model of the International Space Station: "International Space Station (ISS) (B)" from NASA 3D Resources (re-oriented, simplified and re-materialled for this site; its solar arrays turn to the Sun here)NASA / Michael D. Carbajal (NASA 3D Resources)science.nasa.gov/3d-resources/international-space-station-iss-b/
- 3D model of the Hubble Space Telescope: "Hubble Space Telescope (A)" from NASA 3D Resources (with its textures; re-oriented and simplified)DigitalSpace Corporation for NASA (NASA 3D Resources)science.nasa.gov/3d-resources/hubble-space-telescope-a/
- Every other satellite's 3D model: built for this site from its type (procedural geometry and materials, real dimensions from public fact sheets), with an estimated attitude (see How it works)DISPATCH
- NASA 3D models: per NASA's media usage guidelines, polygon data and texture maps are generally not subject to copyright in the US and are used here for information, credited to NASA, with no endorsement implied (no NASA logo is used)NASA Images and Media Usage Guidelineswww.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/
NASA imagery is in the public domain and used with credit. NASA does not endorse this site; no NASA logo is used. Nothing on this site is AI-generated imagery.