The latest NASA app for iOS and Android is helping you achieve that “otherworldly” vibe with your selfies. Aptly named “NASA Selfies,” the new feature from the space agency not only sets the user’s self-portraits against a backdrop of dope space pics but shares the story of how each stellar image was captured.
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Spitzer Space Telescope’s launch, NASA released the Exoplanet Excursions virtual reality app and the NASA Selfies program. The space mission was initially scheduled for a minimum of two to three years in space, but Spitzer went far beyond its expected lifetime, becoming the first telescope to see light from a planet beyond our solar system and capturing several discoveries of exoplanets and distant galaxies.
Finally, all those important discoveries can be the backdrop to our selfies.
Clyde, the author's dog, observes the Andromeda Galaxy.
The app lets the user generate snapshots of themselves in a virtual spacesuit, which is then imposed onto any one of the 30 available cosmic locations. Whether it’s the Crab Nebula, the Sombrero Galaxy, a Pleiades Star Cluster, or the Serpens Cloud Core, each stunning image comes with information on the celestial happening in focus and the way in which it was captured. The Spitzer Space Telescope currently carries NASA’s Infrared Array Camera, Infrared Spectrograph, and the Multiband Imaging Photometer on board, yielding an array of galactic color schemes that will complement any self-portrait.
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Clyde was shy around the Galactic Center.
“In its 15 years of operations, Spitzer has opened our eyes to new ways of viewing the universe,” said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Spitzer’s discoveries extend from our own planetary backyard, to planets around other stars, to the far reaches of the universe. And by working in collaboration with NASA’s other Great Observatories, Spitzer has helped scientists gain a more complete picture of many cosmic phenomena.”
The agency says it plans to add images from other spaceflight missions in the future, but for now, the app will focus on the visual achievements of the Spitzer Telescope, and the selfie, of course.
