Stargazer’s delight: Dark Site Finder lists the best places near you to view the stars. Bonus points for downloading an astronomy app like SkySafari for iOS or Android to know which constellation, planet or star you’re looking at.
Cool site: How to get a high-res satellite photo of your favorite place
Satellite images of our little blue planet can dazzle even the most jaded among us. How cool would it be to see the best of our world through the eyes of a giant?
That brings us to a very cool website. SkyFi is a tool that lets you explore the world from space, and you can even order a photo of any coordinates on the planet for $175.
These photos are gorgeous, high-res and perfect on your wall or as a gift. Think about having a fantastic photograph from space of your corner of the world.
How to get satellite photos of your house
The SkyFi web tool is an interactive map where you can bop in and out of the many places there are to be on Earth. Trust us. It’s easy to spend plenty of time doing this.
To get the image you’re after, all you have to do is hit the black Order New Image button on the Explore sidebar tab. You’ll then be asked to input your specifications, including:
- The day or days you’d like the image to be captured.
- The details of the acquired file. For example, video or still image. Plus a few more beta options that aren’t available yet.
- The resolution of the image.
The base price for your image will be $175. Depending on your desired resolution and image area, it may top out at $3,500 or $7,000. A pretty penny, indeed. But talk about one of the most incredible gifts of all time.
You may also like: 4 things you might have missed in NASA’s first Webb telescope image
More ways to make them (or you!) smile
If you’re already sold, you can use the web tool to stake your claim. It’s an incredible resource if you’re a virtual tourist at heart, and you’ll be guaranteed to see a lot of cool stuff, even if you’re just clicking around.
NASA's Hubble Telescope just spotted the farthest star ever seen
Since our first interaction with space, NASA has come a long way. It’s installed astronauts year-round in space and developed technologically advanced equipment like the Hubble telescope to give us a deeper insight into the universe.
🪐 Space jam: NASA sent the first ever hip-hop song into deep space. Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” is now on Venus, which just so happens to be Missy’s favorite planet. Interesting fact: Even though it traveled at the speed of light, the song took nearly 14 minutes to reach the planet.
Which of these is not a current NASA mission? Is it … A.) Chips that create 3D skin and organ tissue, B.) Fully automated plant growth on the ISS, C.) A shoebox-sized satellite studying the universe’s most powerful explosions or D.) Mars surface ocean exploration?
NASA identifies the first “potentially habitable” planet: The James Webb Space Telescope found the exoplanet with an atmosphere 50 million light-years away. It’s 1.73 times the radius of Earth and 5.6 times its mass. Color-wise, it’s a cross between Mars and Jupiter. Isn’t that something?
🌊 Sail-ebrate the good times: A guy who quit his job to sail the Pacific is over 1,000 miles from land — the furthest point you can go on the planet. He says it’s incredibly disorienting. Why? He’s in the “doldrums,” where there’s no wind at all. My sailing friends told me about that! Watch the vid here. Could you do this? Not me!
We rely on GPS satellites to help us figure out exactly where we are. How many of them are orbiting Earth right now? Is it … A.) Four, B.) 15, C.) 24 or D.) 31?