By Christopher Lung

World Editor

On Oct. 16, Google Maps unveiled a new feature called “Planets,” which allows users to virtually visit more than a dozen planets and moons in the solar system directly from Google Maps. Google added 12 other celestial bodies, including Pluto and the International Space Station, to increase its list of outer-space destinations to 16.
Users can explore the names of specific geographic topographies, such as craters and canyons, and near-360-degree views of the planets and moons by zooming in and rotating using the mouse. Although there is no search bar, the side panel offers precise navigation through the galaxy by listing all the astronomical objects, letting users to move to different planets with a single click. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Cassini spacecraft in 1997 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a mission to conduct a detailed study of Saturn and its moons. The expedition lasted for two decades before it ended this year on Sept. 15.

“During its mission, Cassini recorded and sent nearly half a million pictures back to Earth, allowing scientists to reconstruct these distant worlds in unprecedented detail,” Google published in a blog post.

Astronomical artist Björn Jónsson compiled planetary maps of Jupiter’s moons, Europa and Ganymede, and Saturn’s moons, Rhea and Mimas, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA’s imagery. Limitations to the Maps feature include restricted rotations around the planetary poles and
striping.

“Striping is seen on many of the worlds in Google Maps because it layers the highest-resolution imagery available from NASA, ESA, and other sources over lower-resolution images,” according to Business Insider.

After the launch of “Planets,” Emily Lakdawalla, senior editor of The Planetary Society, noticed that certain planets and their geographic features were offset by 180 degrees and tweeted about the issue. However, Google fixed the problem less than two weeks later. This feature can be accessed by switching to satellite mode on Google Maps and zooming out from the Earth and into outer space. Google has long offered flyover views of the moon and Mars exclusively on Google Earth, but direct access to these images through the Maps interface had not been available until recently. According to Android Authority, “the International Space Station was actually added back in June to Street View…and views of Mars and the Moon have been offered for a while.”