This is a realistic earth rendered in OpenGL in real time using GLSL shaders for dynamically blending the day, night, and cloud textures and uses a light scattering algorithm for illuminating the atmosphere based on the sun position. The earth is included in the simulators I developed for the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center. The sun elevation and position in relation to the earth is accurate according to the time and season of the computer on which it is running. I also created an app so one could use the Earth in other programs with GPS coordinates. I am hoping to release that soon as an addon for openFrameworks.
Some of the shader source code was based on the article by Sean O’Neill for atmospheric scattering.
Textures were made by the Blue Marble site.
