Stunning New 3-D Moon Map Made From Lunar Data
Thanks to a new 3-D map of the moon, earthbound viewers can see its landscape with a clarity that only Apollo’s astronauts have previously enjoyed.
“NASA put out some amazing digital elevation data of the moon late last year, but nobody had released it in true 3-D. So I decided I would,” said Jeffrey Ambroziak, the map’s creator.
Ambroziak recently launched a Kickstarter project to fund the printing of a full-resolution, two-sided “National Geographic-style” 3-D moon map. The image above is a section of that full map. (No 3-D glasses? Follow Wired’s How-To Wiki article on creating a custom pair, which in a pinch can be done with just a CD jewel box and some markers.)
Traditional 3-D images create the illusion of depth by tricking your brain into merging two slightly different images. Red-blue anaglyphs that superimpose separate images use this technique, as do 3-D movies that alternate perspective in every second frame.