# body maps: sources and credits

The console draws Earth, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn's rings with these maps (`vg-bodies.js`). Each one is NASA or USGS imagery, retrieved 2026-10-15 from the page its section names. Mars is the USGS file byte for byte. Pillow's Lanczos filter resized the two Earth maps, the Moon and Jupiter, and the ring profile samples its mosaic.

The NASA pages link to the NASA Images and Media Usage Guidelines (https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/), which say that NASA media files used as texture maps "generally are not subject to copyright in the United States" and may be used "for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages." They also ask that NASA be acknowledged as the source and that no use imply endorsement. None of these NASA pages marks its image as third-party copyright.

| File | Pixels | Bytes | SHA-256 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `earth.jpg` | 2048 x 1024 | 343,887 | `d389cbdcd9fc340225445d6080be870b89b96dba7d509521788df7af0359ce7d` |
| `earth-night.jpg` | 2048 x 1024 | 119,590 | `45030e125d3037bd2750ebc868d0dde09e294e6c6430bd0161ce165959088e3d` |
| `moon.jpg` | 1024 x 512 | 94,606 | `49a1b1875ea5cd87fc5fcb700ee3abe9128648142c830704e152a58473529753` |
| `mars.jpg` | 1024 x 512 | 113,419 | `33f5c66b0faa0d8ba716bc142822bd94b105bede80de1e152048e70614ba9847` |
| `jupiter.jpg` | 1024 x 512 | 80,278 | `b40b26a5b45d349edaccd1de37163513f186cb201a416ddb6ef7bd75587b1fb6` |
| `saturn-rings.png` | 1024 x 1 | 1,793 | `7a6b1fa2257489226af1dc3355bada3db53842d4c7117fb1f397d898898d31a7` |

Each body map (all but the ring profile) is equirectangular with longitude 0 at the center and east longitude increasing to the right.

## earth by day: `earth.jpg`

Blue Marble Next Generation with topography and bathymetry, December. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory (Reto Stöckli, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center).

- Page: https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/blue-marble-next-generation/base-topography-bathymetry/
- Source file: `world.topo.bathy.200412.3x5400x2700.jpg`, 5400 x 2700, SHA-256 `a9f0088972dee0254610af851c4d6838ca3f2cf79176987e0a5713e2c15ec042`, from https://assets.science.nasa.gov/content/dam/science/esd/eo/images/bmng/bmng-topography-bathymetry/december/world.topo.bathy.200412.3x5400x2700.jpg
- The Blue Marble Next Generation page asks anyone republishing it to credit "NASA Earth Observatory."

## earth at night: `earth-night.jpg`

Black Marble 2016, global color map at 0.1 degree. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data from Miguel Román, NASA GSFC.

- Page: https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/earth-at-night/maps/
- Source file: `BlackMarble_2016_01deg.jpg`, 3600 x 1800, SHA-256 `d87de751a264e4f8ff69c68de5dab9606daee87a6f15ae743c93200743bd7ec1`, from https://assets.science.nasa.gov/content/dam/science/esd/eo/images/imagerecords/144000/144898/BlackMarble_2016_01deg.jpg

## the moon: `moon.jpg`

CGI Moon Kit, LROC color map with poles (2019), 4k. Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio (visualizer Ernie Wright, USRA; scientist Noah Petro, NASA/GSFC).

- Page: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4720
- Source file: `lroc_color_poles_4k.tif`, 4096 x 2048, SHA-256 `918649a7f8ed2f1329b2cd95bb0d25483befdcb60ae1a66db681a637cc21344f`, from https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a004700/a004720/lroc_color_poles_4k.tif
- The page says the map is optimized for appearance, not science.

## mars: `mars.jpg`

Mars Viking Colorized Global Mosaic 232m (MDIM 2.1 colorized), the 1024 x 512 sample image, byte for byte. Credit: USGS Astrogeology Science Center; originators NASA Ames.

- Page: https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/mars_viking_colorized_global_mosaic_232m
- Source file: `mars_viking_mdim21_clrmosaic_global_1024.jpg`, from https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/ckan/dataset/7131d503-cdc9-45a5-8f83-5126c0fd397e/resource/6afad901-1caa-48a7-8b62-3911da0004c2/download/mars_viking_mdim21_clrmosaic_global_1024.jpg
- The page gives Access Constraints "Public domain" and Use Constraints "None". It describes the colors as artistic: the Viking color mosaic blended over the grayscale MDIM 2.1.

## jupiter: `jupiter.jpg`

Cassini's Best Maps of Jupiter (cylindrical map), PIA07782. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

- Page: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/cassinis-best-maps-of-jupiter-cylindrical-map/
- Source file: `PIA07782.tif`, 3601 x 1801, SHA-256 `f92ffc7a2fa0235c47ec8f1f168dd36bffeb6acc318292b237878a00a48cf7d9`, from https://assets.science.nasa.gov/content/dam/science/psd/photojournal/pia/pia07/pia07782/PIA07782.tif
- The grid includes both edges, so its last column and row come off before resizing. The page does not say which of Jupiter's longitude systems the map uses.

## saturn's rings: `saturn-rings.png`

The color of Saturn's rings from the C ring's inner edge (74,658 km) to the F ring (140,300 km), 64 km per pixel, sampled from Cassini's "A Full Sweep of Saturn's Rings", PIA11142, a natural color mosaic from 10 degrees below the lit side. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

- Page: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/a-full-sweep-of-saturns-rings/
- Source file: `PIA11142.tif`, 12126 x 1439, SHA-256 `09ed86b99a7255c8527efbbcf6188730e6dc6a6a6dcccb367ef214bc9b8a5b6a`, from https://assets.science.nasa.gov/content/dam/science/psd/photojournal/pia/pia11/pia11142/PIA11142.tif
- This profile samples the mosaic's middle rows and places the ring edges by four landmarks (the C ring's inner edge, the A ring's inner and outer edges and the F ring); `vg-bodies.js` takes ring opacity from its luminance, not from a measured optical depth.

## bodies without a map

`vg-bodies.js` draws the Sun with limb darkening. Venus, Titan, Uranus and Neptune show almost no surface detail in visible light, so each takes one color. Saturn's globe and Mercury take one color as well: a search of NASA and USGS hosts turned up no global map of Saturn's cloud tops, and the MESSENGER maps of Mercury carry their mission's narrower usage terms ("non-commercial educational and public information purposes").