Science on a Sphere

On Thursday last week we went to the Museum of Alaska in Juneau. The most interesting thing on display was the Science on a Sphere exhibit. This is basically a globe-shaped smart board. 4 projectors project on the the globe. Gives new meaning to the 4 corners of the earth! There are different data sets that can be projected on the the globe. The top image is a satellite view of earth and the atmosphere. Below the different native groups of Alaska and their traditional ranges can be found.

Alaska compared to the rest of the world.

Below is the sun. The images projected on the the globe are not static. They can either play in real-time or time lapse. The sun has storms that travel across the surface much like earth. Except they are magnetic and electrical storms. Another data set showed the magnetic storms.

There is a tall rack of computers with a Wii controller that "spins" the image on the globe so you can look at it from different perspectives. There is a data set for every planet, Pluto and even some of Jupiter's moons.

This more static image shows the relative size of the planets as compared to the sun.

This is a very cool exhibit. I am not sure if you can find one near you, but if you have the chance go see it. Juneau has one at the museum and another one at the NOAA facility. It seems unfair that such a small city should get two of these cool toys!