What would it be like to be cosmic in size, to view our Earth like something you can walk around or turn about in your hands? To view it from all angles, not as a map or a photograph glued to a ball, but as a living thing in motion? This coming September 7th the Museum of Natural History in Halifax, Nova Scotia will unveil a new model of our planet created with unprecedented accuracy. It's a room-sized construct of advanced technology called The Blue Marble that arrives from the  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States and will become a permanent exhibit for the museum under the name Science on a Sphere. 

Just as Google's Street View uses an assembly of images and laser-collected data to create an immersive view of a street corner, The Blue Marble draws upon imagery and measurements taken at a planetary scale through satellite-based imaging systems. The video below shows a view captured by NASA from June through September 2001 that can show you the passing of time on the planet with true-color depiction, with special techniques like thermal infrared used to capture clouds and details from the  U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science Data Cente to give shading and definition to the land. If you think of it as a planetary panorama, you're not far off. 

But just as an IMAX or OMINIMAX system can be used to show different films, the Science on a Sphere system can be used to run different views of the Earth, displaying different composities created by a wide variety of scientific agencies or by simply adjusting the imagery to reveal different layers (such as removing the clouds for example). The museum can even use it to display imagery composited from the Moon or other planets.

The first system of it's kind in Canada, the Museum of Natural History in Halifax, Nova Scotia can potentially change the exhibit as needed to offer a focus on different issues, lessons, or stories. An Open House set for Wednesday, September 7th between 6 - 8pm will give visitors their first chance to see the Blue Marble in motion.