Google Earth - Full Solar System Package

Let me first say that this is NOT an official Google release, this is a collection my and other peoples' work. I will give the sources of the parts of the file that are not mine in order to give credit where credit is due. Now then, on to the thread.

First of all, if you don't have Google Earth, download it HERE

Then, you can download the Solar System .kmz file HERE
All you have to do is save and open it and Google Earth will do the rest. Move the files in Google Earth out of the Temporary Places to My Places to keep them. DO NOT delete the .kmz file, it holds all of the data and images (with the exception of Mercury, those come off the MESSENGER site).

These image overlays are made of the most detailed texture maps of all the planets and moons I could find. Even if I give a source for a file that was not mine, I have most likely changed the image to a higher-res version or have added moons. Also, make sure to turn off the boarders and roads under "Layers" and turn off the atmosphere under "View", then click "Atmosphere".

The Package includes:

Size Scale of the Solar System:
Not of my own - Creator found here: www.barnabu.co.uk...
This shows all of the planets and many of the moons compared to the size of the sun. Some of the smaller moons can be hard to center, but double clicking their name under "Models" will zoom right to them.

Earth and other Moons size comparison:
Not of my own - Creator found here: www.barnabu.co.uk...
Very cool looking comparison of the 34 largest moons around the Earth.

All Planets and largest moons:

Mercury:
Not of my own - Found here: messenger.jhuapl.edu...
This one is the best part of the whole package, I think. These images are straight from the MESSENGER Mission, and include a high-res mapping of the surface. It also includes four very cool guided tours of the different aspects of the planet and the mission from four of the team members.

Venus:
Of my own
Includes both with the atmosphere and a surface map of Venus.

Mars:
Not of my own - Found here: www.barnabu.co.uk...
This one is really cool too, because even though this is not a high-res map of the surface (Google Earth already has that), this one shows the surface and shape of both of Mars's tiny moons, as well as a distance scale of the moons both with in real size and with the moons 50x size.

Jupiter:
Of my own
Overlay of the best texture map of Jupiter I could find, along with four of its moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa. This also includes an animation of Jupiter as seen by Cassini (Not of my own - Found here: www.barnabu.co.uk...).

Saturn:
Not of my own - Found here: www.gearthblog.com...
Beautiful rendering of Saturn and its Rings in all of its glory. I included seven of its moons, Titan, Rhea, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Iapetus, and Mimas.

Uranus:
Not of my own - Found here: www.gearthhacks.com...
Uranus with its rings, and I added the moons Umbriel, Miranda, Titania, Ariel, and Oberon. Sadly, all of the moons are only half textured because we do not yet have full surface textures of any of the moons. But they are included anyway.

Neptune:
Of my own
Full texture mapping of Neptune along with most of the surface of its moon, Triton.

Pluto:
Of my own
This one includes two surface textures of Pluto and one of its moon, Charon. These are really just giant featureless blurs, but if felt incomplete without them.

If you have any problems with the file let me know, but I tried to make sure that everything was included and works properly.

So there you go. I looked around and didn't see anything like this anywhere. Enjoy!
If you know of any other texture maps of other moons or better maps of anything, please let me know and I will add them in!

Thank's. I'm so excited to test this out, there goes my weekend!

Fascinating, I'm glad they finally released a Macintosh version. But too much work to do now for Google eyes. Thnks.

reply to post by superstatue


Great work!
Thanks.

The only problem I see is that it asks for a Google account to download the file, but as I have one it wasn't a problem, for me.

reply to post by superstatue


Awesome!!

Thanks for sharing, the first thing I downloaded was the Mars file!!

Now I have plenty to explore later today!

S&F

reply to post by ArMaP


Does it? Well dang, I thought it would let anyone download it, that's what it seemed like it was saying when I chose that option. I was just afraid other file hosting sites would delete it after a while.

I just checked, and it says that no sign in is required. So I'm not sure why it asked for an account.

reply to post by superstatue


I does let everybody download the file, I guess the browser remembered that I had used a Google account and asked for me to log in.

When I tried it in a different browser it didn't ask for anything, so it's working as you wanted it.

Sorry for the confusion.

reply to post by ArMaP


Ok, that's good to know. Whew.
Anyway, glad you enjoyed it! If you do see any problems with the file though, please let me know. I went through many hours of doing trial downloads and finding missing parts. I might have missed something on this one, too...