Comments

busterkeaton wrote on 12/30/2006, 8:32 PM
Here's the first one that shows up in a goolge search of "free photos of the moon."

dunno know if it's free for commercial use, didn't read that far. Lot's of other options, if not
TheHappyFriar wrote on 12/30/2006, 8:38 PM
NASA has some, don't they? You could always load up World Wind... it has the option to use the moon (and mars & earth)
Former user wrote on 12/31/2006, 5:38 AM
It's not free, but it's really cheap - $1 to $5 depending on the resolution you want. It's from iStockphoto. You will have to buy some "credits" to purchase the image and the minimum is 10 credits for $10. But, I use their stuff all the time for video and print, so I'm sure you'll find something to use the remaining credits on ;-)

Moon Image

Jim
DGates wrote on 12/31/2006, 6:53 AM
I second iStockphoto.com

I use their stuff for everything from trade show handouts to my website.
Tech Diver wrote on 12/31/2006, 8:37 AM
These maps that can be wrapped around a sphere are called Cylindrical Maps. There is a 4096x8192 pixel map of the moon here:
http://laps.fsl.noaa.gov/albers/sos/sos.html

For other planets, check out:
http://planetscapes.com/maps/cylmaps.html
http://solarviews.com/cap/index/maps-cylindrical1.html

I use these all the time with Boris Red to create space-scapes and statellite/probe fly-bys. Hint: if you download the cylindrical map of the stars, map it to a very large sphere, place your planets as well as your "camera" inside, then you can rotate the entire scene and it will look VERY realistic. Perfect for all sorts of scientific as well as sci-fi productions.

Former user wrote on 12/31/2006, 9:42 AM
Excellent link at http://laps.fsl.noaa.gov/ for the Moon and other images, but note at the bottom of the web page that they do have the following copyright on the images:

"Copyright: These images are presently licensed for personal non-commercial use as per the GNU freeware license. "
Tech Diver wrote on 12/31/2006, 1:01 PM
I am not sure why there is mention of copyright at that particular web page. The image of the moon as well as many others are part of the SOS (Science On a Sphere) program that makes these images available to the general public without any restrictions that I am aware of. The SOS software, however, is copyright and is intended for educational and non-profit use.

More information about the SOS program can be found at:
http://www.sos.noaa.gov/