NASA collects all of its space photos into single image gallery

If your hobbies include browsing various space photos, NASA has just made your day. The agency has unveiled a huge photo library that features every photo from past to present, totaling up to over 138,000 images. Sources include photos taken by the Hubble, JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab), and missions including Apollo. Called the NASA Images collection, the gallery was built by Luna Imaging, and combines over 70 previous galleries into a single, searchable database.

Right from the start, users will notice the NASA Images collection features a search tool that sort by archive, year, mission, and keyword. Or, just start off browsing by some of the top-level categories, which includes Planets, Robotics, Astronauts, Hubble, Space Shuttle, and Human Spaceflight Collection.

Previously, images could be found spread out across several sites, including NASA's Image of the Day, JPL's Image Gallery, and a defense contractor's website. Having everything available in one location is certainly a convenience, however the one negative aspect is that images are limited to displaying at a resolution that 1,536 pixels wide, which must be a paltry size compared to the originals.

A Luna spokesperson commented that they hope the NASA Images collection will appeal to a wide range of space fans, including educators and those who value visual resources and open collections. It was also mentioned that the satellite imagery has drawn the attention of people at Google's Image Search and those interested in geospatial cataloging.

SOURCE Luna Imaging/NASA