If only the hipsters of 2012 could see us now.
More than 140 000 NASA images, videos and audio files have been released to the public — copyright free — all available for download on one platform.
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According to a press release, the content comes from the “agency’s many missions in aeronautics, astrophysics, Earth science, human spaceflight, and more.”
Anyone with online access is now able to embed the content, or download it in multiple resolutions. The site is best used on a computer, but it does scale down for phones and tablets.
We’re not sure that this is the future NASA envisioned for its free image database
“The library is not comprehensive, but rather provides the best of what NASA makes publicly available from a single point of presence on the web. Additionally, it is a living website, where new and archival images, video and audio files continually will be added,” the release reads.
While this is surely a very useful scientific tool, let’s be honest: this is a hipster’s field day.
To prove the capabilities for inspiring many on the web, I’ve decided to create my own thought-provoking content with the images NASA has so willingly provided.
Here’s an example of what this library could have meant for Tumblr in 2012.
This image is of the Omega Nebula. According to NASA, “the nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula, is a hotbed of newly born stars residing 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.” It’s phenomenal, and here it is paired with an eye-opening quote about trust, deceit and rhymes.
Is this a Plato quote on an image of Pluto? You bet it is. This was, in fact, a colour-enhanced image from the New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager, but I didn’t like the mood it evoked, so I altered it a little.
Science, meet Art.
A picture of a supermoon behind the Washington Monument next to a quote about galactic love and sacrifice? Now ten times easier to source thanks to NASA’s library.
But it won’t only make it easier to get in touch with your feelings.
NASA’s library is also a gateway site for distributing dank memes.
Here’s a relatable meme about writing an article about NASA’s new image library and then realising you’re terrible at making memes. The image is of a very feisty baby owl “[showing] its fear and resentment of the photographer.” Now that’s relatable.
Go flex your creative muscles over at images.nasa.gov.
