3D Animation of Earth and Space Science Concepts

We developed a series of 3D animations for NASA's Space Science News website. These animations dynamically illustrate fundamental earth and space science concepts to Web and television viewers. The animations were developed with 3D Studio Max and custom Digital Radiance 3D software and have been featured on: CNN, The Discovery Channel, The Weather Channel, NASA Select, PBS, Yahoo, Space.com, the American Museum of Natural History, and television broadcasts nationwide.

• Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) Impacting the Earth's Magnetosphere
• Solar Eclipse
• Hurricane Bonnie Flyby
• Sulfur Volcano on Jupiter's Moon Io
• Galileo Spacecraft's Flyby of Io Volcano
• Precision Farming and Remote Sensing
• Comet Tempel-Tuttle's Orbit
• Earth and the Leonids Meteors

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) Impacting the Earth's Magnetosphere

A Coronal Mass Ejection is a huge balloon-shaped burst of solar plasma that can occur with a solar flare. The CME is composed of energized electrons, protons, and heavy nuclei that travel outward from the sun at roughly one million miles per hour. If the CME passes near Earth its electromagnetic field will distort the earth's magnetic field, its energetic particles will funnel through the earth's polar regions into the ionosphere, and its heat will expand the earth's atmosphere. These effects can cause dramatic problems for global communications, power distribution, and weather.

Shown below are images from animations that illustrate the earth's magnetosphere and the results of a CME impact.

This animation was featured in the video series "Live From the Sun 2000" on PBS and NASA-Select.

An image from a 15 second, 550 KB QuickTime movie illustrating the 3D structure of the earth's magnetosphere at 60 degrees, 75 degrees, and 85 degrees magnetic latitude..

An image from a 6 second, 275 KB QuickTime movie illustrating a CME impact on the earth's magnetosphere.

An image from a 15 second, 580 KB QuickTime movie illustrating how the energy from a CME impact is deposited at the earth's magnetic poles.

The full 36 second, 1.4 MB QuickTime movie.

Solar Eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth in just the right configuration to cast the moon's shadow onto the earth's surface. The sun's diameter is roughly 400 times that of the moon and, coincidentally, the sun is roughly 400 times farther away than the moon; the net effect is that the sun and moon appear to be the same size in the sky. This interesting relationship allows the moon to completely block the sun during a total solar eclipse. Shown below is an image from an animation depicting the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse. The not-to-scale animation illustrates the basic relationship between the moon's penumbra (the large, light shadow) and umbra (the small, dark shadow) as they pass over the earth. Click on the image below to see the full animation.

An image from a 9 second, 260 KB QuickTime movie illustrating the moon's penumbra and umbra during the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse.

Hurricane Bonnie Flyby

Hurricane Bonnie hit the eastern US coast on August 26-27, 1998, ultimately causing three deaths and 360 million dollars in property and crop damage. At landfall, Bonnie was rated as a category two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, meaning wind speeds of 110 mph and storm surges of six to eight feet. Shown below is an image from an animation depicting the August 26-27th landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina. Click on the image to see the full animation.

Sulfur Volcano on Jupiter's Moon Io

This animation is exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space Science.

Galileo Spacecraft's Flyby of Io Volcano

Precision Farming and Remote Sensing

Comet Tempel-Tuttle's Orbit

Earth and the Leonids Meteors

This animation has been featured on CNN, The Weather Channel, The Discovery Channel, and television news shows nationwide.