M83 – We Own the Sky from David Altobelli.

Bathtub IV by Keith Loutit.

furniture made in Seattle from massive slabs of pacific madrone, sycamore, walnut, elm, and other trees that spent their lifetimes in Seattle. Each piece unique, each with a story to tell.

In this true-color, photo-like image, ice floating on the surface of Lake Superior ranges in color from white to pale gray-blue. The ice appears most solid along the southern shore of the western half of the lake. North of that solid band of ice, cracks reveal deep blue lake water. Dark lake water also appears in the eastern part of the lake, especially along its northern shore.

NASA accquires satelite images and posts them here; they are sortable by date, natrual disaster, and even location! Moreover, “images of the day” have detailed articles about the image source and visible detail.

The site even features global maps of chlorophyll distribution, the cloud fraction, sea and land surface temperatures, rainfall, snow cover and vegetation. Each of these are animated with data from the past ten years and are mesmerizing.

Be sure to check out the “images of the day” — like this December/February comparison of snow cover; an image of Dust off the UAE or the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. A GeoEye-1  view of the Inauguration Day crowds shows that

what at first seems to be a dense, leafless forest is actually the crowd of people closest to the site of the swearing-in ceremony, which takes place on the steps of the Capitol.

All images are available for high-res download.

Combined with a physics engine (the software that makes stuff in video game worlds move realistically), Processing can be used to make very neat animations.

Of all the simple examples (middle of the page), I can’t stop watching this animation. It gives the same kind of satisfaction that comes from crunching dried leaves or crumpling tin foil. Rapid conversion of potential to kinetic energy.