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Science On a Sphere (SOS) is a spherical projection system created by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It displays high-resolution video on a suspended globe with the aim of better representing global phenomena. [1] Animated images of atmospheric storms, climate change, and ocean temperature can be displayed on the sphere to display environmental processes. SOS systems are most frequently installed in science museums, universities, zoos, and research institutions.
SOS was invented by Alexander E. MacDonald, the former director of the Earth System Research Laboratories. [2] MacDonald devised the original idea for SOS in 1995. A team of NOAA staff wrote the SOS software and developed the SOS hardware and system architecture. A patent was awarded to NOAA for Science On a Sphere in August 2005. [2] [3]
SOS uses many off-the-shelf hardware and software components. [4] A spherical screen covered in ordinary latex paint hangs suspended in the center of the projection space. The screen is inert; it neither moves nor has any electronic parts. Surrounding the screen are four video projectors, with each projector responsible for one quadrant of screen space. One CPU is used to control the system. The SOS software runs on Linux. [5]
The carbon fiber sphere is 68 inches (1.7 m) in diameter and weighs under 50 pounds (23 kg). [6] The sphere is attached to the ceiling or suspension structure with a three-point suspension system to hold the sphere in place and reduce lateral movement and blurring. [7]
The system requires high quality, bright, long-duty cycle projectors, rather than smaller portable and consumer models to endure the requirements of 8–10 hours per day, 7 days per week of most public displays. [8]
The newest configuration[ when? ] uses one Ubuntu Linux computer with NVIDIA Quadro graphics cards, and an iPad app to control the system. [8]
The majority of SOS assets are so-called "datasets". Originally conceived as a video system for showing space-based collections of Earth data, the SOS has grown in its utility. The majority of data that traditionally appears on the SOS screens concerns the Earth, either from near-real-time data acquisition systems, or from processed remote sensing platforms, but recent interest and growth in different kinds of media have started to broaden that library. [9] There are currently over 500 datasets that can be shown on the sphere, including real-time infrared satellite images, Mars, real-time earthquakes, an ocean acidification model, and others, including a number of movies. [10] [11]
The data format for SOS datasets is the equirectangular projection, as shown by the map to the right. [12]
A collaborative network has been established by institutions with access to SOS, as well as partners who are developing educational programming and content for these systems. The SOS Users Collaborative Network is backed by the NOAA Office of Education (OEd) and the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories (ESRL). [13]
Science On a Sphere is installed in science museums, zoos, aquariums, and visitor centers around the world. [14]
Digital cinema refers to the adoption of digital technology within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be shipped to movie theaters, a digital movie can be distributed to cinemas in a number of ways: over the Internet or dedicated satellite links, or by sending hard drives or optical discs such as Blu-ray discs.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a US scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the US exclusive economic zone. The agency is part of the United States Department of Commerce and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.
Stellarium is a free and open-source planetarium, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 or any later version, available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. A port of Stellarium called Stellarium Mobile is available for Android, iOS, and Symbian as a paid version, being developed by Noctua Software. These have a limited functionality, lacking some features of the desktop version. All versions use OpenGL to render a realistic projection of the night sky in real time.
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Fulldome refers to immersive dome-based video display environments. The dome, horizontal or tilted, is filled with real-time (interactive) or pre-rendered (linear) computer animations, live capture images, or composited environments.
The Discovery Science Center and Planetarium is a hands-on science center in Bridgeport, Connecticut, that serves as both a tourist destination and an educational resource for area schools. The Discovery Science Center provides dynamic, hands-on STEM experiences designed to resonate with the innate curiosity, learning desire, and spirit of exploration of visitors, encouraging young learners to ask questions, solve problems, and engineer solutions today so they are better prepared to embrace the challenges of tomorrow.
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Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions.
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HEALPix, an acronym for Hierarchical Equal Area isoLatitude Pixelisation of a 2-sphere, is an algorithm for pixelisation of the 2-sphere based on subdivision of a distorted rhombic dodecahedron, and the associated class of map projections. The pixelisation algorithm was devised in 1997 by Krzysztof M. Górski at the Theoretical Astrophysics Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, and first published as a preprint in 1998.
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