ßluepig

Is this an error in the imaging data?

Hi-res picture is here:
http://sci.esa.int/science-e-media/img/e3/spirit_landing_site.jpeg

Webpage:
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34531

greg crinklaw

You mean the dark greenish spots? Those are locations where the
underlying soil has been made visible. Most of the planet is covered
with a thin layer of red dust. But in the center of the image the wind
has removed the dust (usually via dust devils, which leave visible track
marks). This is the same soil seen in the Spirit images where the
landing bags have removed the dust layer near the lander. Note that ME
uses much lower resolution for the color channels so the sharp streaks
and tracks all appear to blend together in a large mass of color.

At some point somebody is going to have to address why the ME images
show this soil with such a strong greenish hue. I don't see how that
can be accurate. I tiny bit of very dark green, maybe, but the
saturation in the images seems overdone. The ME images also show very
bright yellows. this is hardly the same planet we all look at in our
telescopes...

--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools Software for the Observer:
http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html

Skyhound Observing Pages:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html

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jonathan silverlight

In message <101j0r8ota6qi2d@corp.supernews.com>, Greg Crinklaw
<capellasoftspleen@yahoo.com> writes

I thought NASA was supposed to be tampering with the images so we didn't
see any green :-)
--
Save the Hubble Space Telescope!
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

greg crinklaw

Well, then Bush had better get his "allies" to get with the program! ;-)

--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools Software for the Observer:
http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html

Skyhound Observing Pages:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html

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has.mac

:-)

Didn't you know? Mars is made of cheese, it looks like Red Leicester, I've a
block in my fridge that looks exactly like this and also has green spots.

greg crinklaw

So how is Grommit doing these days?

--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools Software for the Observer:
http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html

Skyhound Observing Pages:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html

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martin frey

Wensleydale, Greg, Wensleydale. Get a grip.

--
Martin Frey
http://www.hadastro.org.uk
N 51 02 E 0 47

sam

No that's the moon.

Sam

chris.b

Oxidised copper underlying the red dust? Mars is solid copper!
Biggest soldering iron in the universe! Well it's a better explanation
than mouldy cheese. But if you can believe imaginative thinkers there
was a catastrophic coming together of an object and Mars that resulted
in our Moon. That would at least explain two cheesy bodies in our
Solar System. I prefer mature Cheddar myself.

Chris.B