Steve Albers' Planetary Maps (Global Images)

This image processing outlined on this page is being done to provide "value-added" global planet & satellite images to NOAA's Science on a Sphere project. Other images available from various groups and individuals on the internet are being used "as-is".

Venus

I have some global Venus images, one of which is shown here. This is a combination of two images. The hue information comes from Calvin Hamilton's cylindrical map . The shaded-relief (intensity) information is used from Tayfun Oner's Venus topography map . Tayfun's black & white map was warped from a Mercator onto the Cylindrical projection shown here at a resolution of 1000x2000 pixels. Red and white colors are highest and the light source comes from the right (east) side.


JPEG (1.8MB), TIFF (6MB)- (images updated 5/12/2004)

Moon

We are using this map (4096x8192) of the Moon created by Jens Meyer.

Jupiter


I am working to utilize a spectacular Jupiter movie from Cassini (2D Interpolated) for the Science on a Sphere. I applied some simple processing to produce this 28MB tar file (updated 7/7/2004) containing separate GIF images for the 197 frame color movie. The resolution of the image is 2 pixels per degree and the original animiated GIF was cropped to 360x720 pixels. The data void space near the poles (outside of +/-68 degrees latitude) was filled with a neutral color.

Io

This global color mosaic of Io contains Voyager and Galileo data. I combined five individual mosaics to produce this detailed global (2048x4096) map. About 40% of this image (mainly in the projovian hemisphere) comes from Laika's cylindrical color map . The color balance was modified slightly to make it look more "realistic" based on Galileo's colors. Intensities were also adjusted slightly over broad regions so it would blend better with the other images.

For the second image a near-hemispheric Galileo mosaic was used for about 40% of the map. This was reprojected from a vertical perspective projection (spacecraft view - similar to orthographic) onto the cylindrical lat/lon grid. For the third image a portion of this Galileo mosaic was reprojected to cover about 10% of the map. The color balance was adjusted and saturation was subdued to undo the "enhanced" color in the posted Galileo image. The fourth image comes from a portion of this Galileo mosaic, reprojected to cover the remaining 10% of the map. This fourth color image was augmented by higher resolution intensity information from a black and white USGS map.

Seams were blended gradually between the various images to reduce their prominence. Some further color adjustments are being made to compensate for the extended wavelength range of the Galileo filters.


JPEG (1MB), TIFF (25MB)- (images updated 7/20/2004)

Europa

I am working on a global color map of Europa using Voyager and Galileo data. The current 2048x4096 version is a blending of information from two other maps. The first is in color from
Bjorn Jonsson and the second is a high-resolution B&W USGS map on a cylindrical projection. The hue and saturation comes from Bjorn's map. The intensities come from a blend of the USGS data and Bjorn's map. Bjorn's map was warped based on about 60 tiepoints so that it registers better with the USGS map.


JPEG (900K), TIFF (25MB)- (images updated 8/24/2004)

Ganymede

We are using a modified version of this map of Ganymede created by Bjorn Jonsson.

Callisto

We are using a modified version of this map of Callisto created by Bjorn Jonsson.

Saturn

Enceladus

We are using this 2K map of Enceladus created by Philip J. Stooke and Jens Meyer.

Tethys

Below is a new 2K map of Tethys constructed by reprojecting and overlaying a high-resolution Cassini mosaic from a recent flyby on top of a previous map using Voyager images from Jens Meyer .


JPEG, TIFF- (image updated 12/6/2004)

Titan

Below is a new 1K map of Titan constructed by reprojecting and overlaying several high-resolution Cassini mosaics and images from the T0 and TA flybys on top of a
previous map using lower resolution Saturn approach images from Fridger Schremp and the NASA Cassini mission . One mosaic and one single image were used from the T0 flyby together with one mosaic and one single image from the TA flyby, as processed by the CICLOPS Cassini imaging team . The black & white images were generally taken through near infrared and polarizing filters to pierce the haze on Titan.


JPEG, TIFF- (image updated 12/6/2004)

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