4 ms·

It is really cool how the NASA gives us a better understanding of the universe and our place in it by publishing all these nice pictures. However, I would like

It is really cool how the NASA gives us a better understanding of the universe and our place in it by publishing all these nice pictures. However, I would like to have one easy accessible source for all the nice pictures that is daily updated and could be synchronized to a local school server e.g. with rsync. Is there one "ḧere-are-all-the-pics"-ftp server anywhere? It is quite time consuming to browse the hundreds of NASA sites and download pictures manually - instead I would like to spend that time browsing a local incoming folder to select the best pictures. Would be a great service to the world to have easier access to these pictures.

2Pacalypse- 11y ago
Not quite what you requested, but NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day[1] is very cool. It has an archive dating back to the 1995! [1] - http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/
- leonardinius 11y ago
  Thanks for sharing. I think I will spend next several hours digging through.
- mattlutze 11y ago
  Completely unnecessary side note: It's run by one of my old professors[1]! The whole physics department at Michigan Tech is a cool little diamond in the middle of the Upper Peninsula rough. 1: http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  - bmm6o 11y ago
    (Totally off-topic, but that's not a very apt usage of "diamond in the rough": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diamond_in_the_rough https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diamond_in_the_rough )
    - mattlutze 11y ago
      The UP is sparsely populated and not nationally known for high-tech industries or science, but rather wilderness, logging, mining, hunting, and general backwoods-ish-ness. Houghton is the exception; hidden under that rough-and-wild exterior are some rather outstanding minds, particularly in physics and atmospheric sciences. I think it works, but to each their own :)
zymhan 11y ago
That does sound like a great thing to have. Maybe this is something Code for America http://www.codeforamerica.org/about/ http://www.codeforamerica.org/about/ can do?
Steuard 11y ago
It's not quite what you're asking for (though I haven't looked around for alternate interfaces), but the NASA Photojournal site is really nice: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html
ised 11y ago
The image, without the Javascript: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/dscovrepicmoontransitfull.gif http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/dsc... Interesting note (from NASA?) to visitors embedded in the page: <script> (function($) { $.reject({ display: ["msie", "firefox", "safari", "opera", "chrome", "gcf"], reject: { msie5: true, msie6: true, msie7: true, msie8: true, msie9: true, firefox2: true, firefox3: true, firefox4: true, firefox5: true, firefox6: true, firefox7: true, firefox8: true, firefox9: true, safari1: true, safari2: true, safari3: true, safari4: true, opera1: true, opera2: true, opera3: true, opera4: true, opera5: true, opera6: true, opera7: true, opera8: true, opera9: true }, imagePath: '/sites/all/modules/contributed/jreject/jReject/images/', enable: true, header: "Did you know that your Internet Browser is out of date?", paragraph1: "To ensure that all features of NASA.gov work effectively, please upgrade to the latest version of one of these web browsers. <br /><br />For Internet Explorer users: The site will only be fully functional on version 11 with compatibility mode turned off. If you're using version 11 and you're seeing this message, compatibility mode is turned on in your browser. If you need compatibility mode turned on to use other sites or applications, you'll need to use another browser to see the full NASA site.", paragraph2: "Just click on the icons to get to the download page:", closeMessage: "By closing this window you acknowledge that your experience on this website may be degraded.", closeLink: "Close This Window", closeURL: "#", close: true, closeESC: true, closeCookie: true, overlayBgColor: "#000", overlayOpacity: 0.8, fadeInTime: "fast", fadeOutTime: "fast" }); })(jQuery);</script>
- BinaryIdiot 11y ago
  Fyi this is almost verbatim from what I've seen on several other sites. I'm assuming they just grabbed a browser identifying script from somewhere.
- nitrogen 11y ago
  That popup is incredibly annoying on mobile and the close link doesn't work in the Android browser.
thearn4 11y ago
I'm a NASA engineer, and I think one of the problems that we recognize is just how much fragmentation there is between org units, projects, programs, and centers (each of which can be surprisingly autonomous). A single mission may have several "official" websites, depending on how the work is distributed across the agency. Your wish for a single-accessible source for images would be great. For that to happen, we would need to have someone dedicated to curating it from so many possible sources, under mandate from HQ. For general raw data (not necessarily images), an effort like that does exist, though it isn't yet supported by every program: https://data.nasa.gov/ https://data.nasa.gov/
- markbnine 11y ago
  I agree with the bunker mentality of the NASA centers. That said, the PDS (https://pds.nasa.gov/ https://pds.nasa.gov/) is the closest thing to a central source for planetary data and imagery. And they run the photo journal (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html)
SCAQTony 11y ago
I agree. Presentation is everything and images from the Voyager, Cassini, Hubble, the Mars landers, New Horizons, have done so much to inspire writers, artists, and has gotten kids interested in Science. A repository of images would be amazing and provide a terrific return on investment intellectually, artistically, and even monetarily if a small fee was charged to maintain it.
- nitrogen 11y ago
  Those pictures have already been paid for by taxes. We should not have to pay for them again.
  - visakanv 11y ago
    you wouldn't be paying for the images, you'd be paying to have somebody do the grunt work of organizing them, presenting them, etc
    - meatysnapper 11y ago
      I want to emphasize that organizing these images would be a non-trivial amount of work. More worthwhile than bombing a bunch of sand people somewhere, certainly, but still non-trivial.
pzaich 11y ago
I think the same could be said for all public domain images published by the government. There must be a tremendous wealth of high quality photos that are hidden away on various agency websites. I've been thinking about creating an aggregation service for this similar to unsplash.com.
glandium 11y ago
What would be really cool too, is something like http://himawari8.nict.go.jp/ http://himawari8.nict.go.jp/ with the (more-or-less) real-time pictures from DSCOVR.

2Pacalypse- 11y ago

Not quite what you requested, but NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day[1] is very cool. It has an archive dating back to the 1995! [1] - http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/

leonardinius 11y ago
Thanks for sharing. I think I will spend next several hours digging through.
mattlutze 11y ago
Completely unnecessary side note: It's run by one of my old professors[1]! The whole physics department at Michigan Tech is a cool little diamond in the middle of the Upper Peninsula rough. 1: http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
- bmm6o 11y ago
  (Totally off-topic, but that's not a very apt usage of "diamond in the rough": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diamond_in_the_rough https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diamond_in_the_rough )
  - mattlutze 11y ago
    The UP is sparsely populated and not nationally known for high-tech industries or science, but rather wilderness, logging, mining, hunting, and general backwoods-ish-ness. Houghton is the exception; hidden under that rough-and-wild exterior are some rather outstanding minds, particularly in physics and atmospheric sciences. I think it works, but to each their own :)

zymhan 11y ago

That does sound like a great thing to have. Maybe this is something Code for America http://www.codeforamerica.org/about/ http://www.codeforamerica.org/about/ can do?

Steuard 11y ago

It's not quite what you're asking for (though I haven't looked around for alternate interfaces), but the NASA Photojournal site is really nice: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

ised 11y ago

The image, without the Javascript: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/dscovrepicmoontransitfull.gif http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/dsc... Interesting note (from NASA?) to visitors embedded in the page: <script> (function($) { $.reject({ display: ["msie", "firefox", "safari", "opera", "chrome", "gcf"], reject: { msie5: true, msie6: true, msie7: true, msie8: true, msie9: true, firefox2: true, firefox3: true, firefox4: true, firefox5: true, firefox6: true, firefox7: true, firefox8: true, firefox9: true, safari1: true, safari2: true, safari3: true, safari4: true, opera1: true, opera2: true, opera3: true, opera4: true, opera5: true, opera6: true, opera7: true, opera8: true, opera9: true }, imagePath: '/sites/all/modules/contributed/jreject/jReject/images/', enable: true, header: "Did you know that your Internet Browser is out of date?", paragraph1: "To ensure that all features of NASA.gov work effectively, please upgrade to the latest version of one of these web browsers. <br /><br />For Internet Explorer users: The site will only be fully functional on version 11 with compatibility mode turned off. If you're using version 11 and you're seeing this message, compatibility mode is turned on in your browser. If you need compatibility mode turned on to use other sites or applications, you'll need to use another browser to see the full NASA site.", paragraph2: "Just click on the icons to get to the download page:", closeMessage: "By closing this window you acknowledge that your experience on this website may be degraded.", closeLink: "Close This Window", closeURL: "#", close: true, closeESC: true, closeCookie: true, overlayBgColor: "#000", overlayOpacity: 0.8, fadeInTime: "fast", fadeOutTime: "fast" }); })(jQuery);</script>

BinaryIdiot 11y ago
Fyi this is almost verbatim from what I've seen on several other sites. I'm assuming they just grabbed a browser identifying script from somewhere.
nitrogen 11y ago
That popup is incredibly annoying on mobile and the close link doesn't work in the Android browser.

thearn4 11y ago

I'm a NASA engineer, and I think one of the problems that we recognize is just how much fragmentation there is between org units, projects, programs, and centers (each of which can be surprisingly autonomous). A single mission may have several "official" websites, depending on how the work is distributed across the agency. Your wish for a single-accessible source for images would be great. For that to happen, we would need to have someone dedicated to curating it from so many possible sources, under mandate from HQ. For general raw data (not necessarily images), an effort like that does exist, though it isn't yet supported by every program: https://data.nasa.gov/ https://data.nasa.gov/

markbnine 11y ago
I agree with the bunker mentality of the NASA centers. That said, the PDS (https://pds.nasa.gov/ https://pds.nasa.gov/) is the closest thing to a central source for planetary data and imagery. And they run the photo journal (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html)

SCAQTony 11y ago

I agree. Presentation is everything and images from the Voyager, Cassini, Hubble, the Mars landers, New Horizons, have done so much to inspire writers, artists, and has gotten kids interested in Science. A repository of images would be amazing and provide a terrific return on investment intellectually, artistically, and even monetarily if a small fee was charged to maintain it.

nitrogen 11y ago
Those pictures have already been paid for by taxes. We should not have to pay for them again.
- visakanv 11y ago
  you wouldn't be paying for the images, you'd be paying to have somebody do the grunt work of organizing them, presenting them, etc
  - meatysnapper 11y ago
    I want to emphasize that organizing these images would be a non-trivial amount of work. More worthwhile than bombing a bunch of sand people somewhere, certainly, but still non-trivial.

pzaich 11y ago

I think the same could be said for all public domain images published by the government. There must be a tremendous wealth of high quality photos that are hidden away on various agency websites. I've been thinking about creating an aggregation service for this similar to unsplash.com.

glandium 11y ago

What would be really cool too, is something like http://himawari8.nict.go.jp/ http://himawari8.nict.go.jp/ with the (more-or-less) real-time pictures from DSCOVR.