Long reads

What is new in each release

One release, a few articles: what was added, a picture of it from the map itself, and in every one what is measured, what is modelled and what is only an illustration.

Release 1.5.0

• Moments: a mission replayed in 3D on one clock

  Release 1.5.0 adds Moments, missions replayed in 3D on one clock. The first is Apollo 11's Saturn V from ignition to the escape tower.

• Arrokoth, Kleopatra and nine more small worlds in their own shapes

  Release 1.5.0 draws eleven asteroids and a comet from the shape models of New Horizons, Lucy, Rosetta and radar, each on its own orbit.

• Stars with no distance, 4 383 pulsars and the farthest galaxy

  Release 1.5.0 adds 10 224 stars with no measured distance, 4 383 pulsars, the Local Group's dwarfs, quasars and MoM-z14 at redshift 14.44.

Release 1.4.0

• Eight nebulae as walls of glowing gas, dust and stars

  Release 1.4.0 draws the Lagoon, Trifid, Eagle, Omega, Rosette and three more nebulae in 3D. The light is measured, the shape reconstructed.

• Black holes in 3D, sized to the Event Horizon Telescope

  Release 1.4.0 draws Sagittarius A*, M87* and Cygnus X-1 in 3D, with shadows that follow from their masses and match the EHT's measurements.

• Sixty more craft with shapes of their own

  Release 1.4.0 adds sixty models of landers, weather satellites, Earth imagers and spent stages, built from cited metres and photographs.

Release 1.3.0

• Spacecraft that look like themselves

  Release 1.3.0 adds 34 spacecraft, landers and rovers and draws them in gold foil, white cloth and cells. What is measured, what is ours.

• Galaxies, Carina and the Magellanic Cloud from their own numbers

  Release 1.3.0 draws M51, M81, M101, the Sombrero and the Antennae from published numbers, with Carina and the Small Magellanic Cloud in depth.

Release 1.2.0

• Orion, the Ring and the nebulae you can fly into

  Release 1.2.0 draws the Orion and Ring Nebulae, the Veil and three dust clouds as shapes in depth. What is measured, what is a model.

• Clusters you can fly into, and the edge of what we can see

  Release 1.2.0: 33 globular and 36 open clusters as stars, four galaxy clusters, two new trips and the oldest light at the horizon.

• The Moon at a low Sun, the giants' rings and the plumes

  Release 1.2.0 casts the Moon's shadows from its own heights, draws Uranus's rings as dark as they are, and shows plumes only where seen.

Every picture is a screenshot of the live map, taken on a machine with a real browser; the sources and licences are in CREDITS.md and at the foot of each article.