Rating: ooo
Reference type: Geographical
Authority: This site is sponsored and maintained by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is one of the official agencies involved in space exploration. The actual webmaster is David Seal, who works at JPL.
Audience Relation: Science fiction authors often set their stories in outer space, and often this is within our own solar system. Thus, an atlas of our solar system would be a very useful tool in creating a realistic setting for the novel or story.
Scope: This site is intended for anyone who wants to know what a particular body in our solar system would look like from any other body. This would include anyone from astronomers to scholars to just the average person on the net.
Content Evaluation: This page loads very quickly, despite its use of graphics. It is just over a screenful in length, but is easy to scan and decided where to go. The majority of the front page's space is given over to the simulator control panel which allows the user to enter the body to be viewed, the vantage point, the date of the viewing (very useful for future speculation), field degree, and a small assortment of other options designed to enhance the end result. The rest of the page is given over to useful links, such as information on using the images obtained at this site.
The results of the simulator are opened in a fresh window giving a magnified view of the planet or other body so details can be seen on it's surface, date and time of viewing information, and range, phase, and diameter information. The data can be really confusing to the uninitiated, and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of explanatory information for interpretation on the site. The FAQ does answer some of the questions. And, if the planet's facing side is the only information needed, then this is a good place to go for that information.
Overall, this would be a great site for a science fiction writer with a pretty good background in astronomy who was going to be including those details in his or her work. For the average person, this site may be a bit too complex.
Availability: http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/
