Panoramas of the Lunar Surface

Did you know that the US landed men on the moon in 6 missions flown over 41 months (July 20, 1969 - December 11, 1972.) In 1969 we landed on the moon in July and November.  I must admit that I hadn't realized that we sent rockets to the moon with that rapidity.

During that time, 12 men walked on the moon. They walked and drove the lunar landers (are they still up there?)  A little known fact is that each astronaut was fitted with a chest camera. It was a Hasselblad EDC that was specially designed for the trip.  (I wrote about another extraordinary photography tool, the Gigapan in November, 2009)

The photographs that the astronauts took on the moon have been "sewn together" to create Interactive QuickTime VR Panoramas of the moon that are available at Panorama.dk. Not only can you scan the lunar surface while sitting in your classroom, your journey is accompanied with audio tracks of what the astronauts broadcast back to Houston. Admittedly, the scanning is a little tricky and jerky but it is something to see.

You really MUST explore the Panoramas.dk website. It has panoramas a wide variety of travel destinations including the NEW 7 Wonders of the World:  

• Roman Colosseum (been there)  *
• China's Great Wall (been there)  *
• Petra in Jordan (probably go there this summer)
• India's Taj Mahal (would LOVE to go)
• Machu Picchu in Peru (Not yet)
• Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro (Not yet)
• Chichen Itza in Mexico (been there)  *

Looks like my wife, Kathy, and I have just created a new "Bucket List."

I began this posting raving about shooting men to the moon and ended telling you about my bucket list. Looking at these places in Google Earth can be a good introduction to the locales, but panoramas like these can make it real.

Have you used or created panoramas like these before?

Z

Related articles

• Panoramas are the next level in photographic representation (garry.posterous.com)

19 Digital Storytelling Tools to Explore

flickr.com/vancouverfilmschool

Looking for some innovative tools for creating your digital stories? 


Ozge Karaoglu has shared 19 Digital Storytelling Tools on the Tech & Learning Advisor blog. She shares a plethora of audio, picture and animation tools that include the familiar and the new and exciting (at least they are to me.)

You should go to her posting to see this wonderful assortment. I am quite familiar with some of the standards that she posted including VoiceThread, Voki, Vocaroo, Jing, Animoto, GoAnimate and Xtranormal. But she included a panorama of new development scenery to begin exploring. Some of these tools include DVolver, DomoAnimate, PhotoPeach, Zooburst (3D popup book), Fotobabble and BubbleJoy.  

I can tell right now that I won't be getting much done for the next few days.

I hope that you enjoy Ozge's posting and visit her blog, Ozge Karaoglu's Blog, where she has a wealth of other tools for you to explore.

Is your favorite Digital Storytelling tool included here?  Share it in the comments section below.  It would be good to round this off to an even 20 or 25 or 50 . . . 

Z

The Magical World of the Upcoming Mac iOS

Just wanted to share with you the video of magician and performance artists, Simon Pierro, sharing the "beta version of iOS 5" on his iPad.  While I don't really think that the new iOS will have ALL of these capabilities (smirk), it is fun to see his ingenuity at work.

Thank you, Simon.