Image of the day: How NASA made composite images prior to Photoshop

The image above is a collage of photographs obtained by NASA’s Voyager I satellite back in 1979, and they are the first ever of Jupiter’s moon, “Io”. Strange craters, long plains, enormous mountains . . . all sent back as a series of photographs that needed to be assembled by hand by the Agency’s staffers as Photoshop was still several years away. 

A close-up of the collage, starting from the left . . .  

 
. . . to the middle . . .  

. . . and to the right.

Worth noting about these photos is the fact that they revealed the moon wasn’t the cold, barren mass of rock Agency experts thought it would be; rather, a body with volcanic activity all throughout.

Not too shabby for something that looks like it was bought off the discount puzzles shelf in the local toy store.

Do you find something like this fascinating? If so, you should check out Littelfuse's Speed2Design contest. There's no pre-requisite for entry, but 10 random contestants will be selected to tour NASA'S Johnson Space Center once the government shutdown has been lifted. Fill out the form below to enter:

Oh, and don't worry about a deadline for entry. So long as the government is shutdown, this contest will remain open!

Story and images via: newscientist.com