Since Spirit is no longer "Running for the Hills" and it appears that she will be staying at Low Ridge Haven for the next eight months or so, it seems like a good time to start a new topic.
I thought we could start with the great panorama stitched by jvandriel, and then altered by Tesheiner. We are going to become very familiar with this view in the coming months.
David
[attachment=5107:attachment] (286k)
I'm just bumping this thread because I agree that it's time for a new topic devoted to Spirit's new home. Post here, folks!
Are you certain about that 16cm measurement? I get 6.2992126 inches.
(Just doing my part to bump the new thread too.)
Here's a polar view of The Low Ridge Haven (Heaven's a slightly different place, Rodolfo, so they tell me).
It is from jvandriel's pan in the previous thread.
Phil
Interesting picture. The north side is found the Columbia Hill? On that view to North, the Home Plate is found. Now, the south side has more naked stones than anywhere from Low Ridge Heaven. I deduct that the prominent wind comes from between southwest-south direction. The East side is seen the McCool Hill. The Spirit was trying to climb toward west. On around west-south side, where there is a small cone, is a famous cut bright cone, Pitcher Mound.
I suspect that the climbing direction of Spirit will not meet soft sand unless that westward surface, there is a thin layer of sand and below of this might be a outcrop. Thus, Spirit will be able to climb even further to catch a better wind.
Rodolfo
Whew, I'm glad that she made it to safe Winter Quarters.
I've been off all week, went to St Louis Missouri for a meeting. I was sans a public 'puter and didn't get a chance to check in.
--Bill
Cool image, Phil. Aesthetically and science wise. The Low Ridge layering seems to strike east-west below the rover and then changing to a more northeasterly strike. But the rocks exposed near Mitchelltree (which should be on strike) seem to have curved formed. Or is this an optical effect created by the polar projection? I'll try to sketch some images after the long weekend to clarify what I mean.
Here's a view of the Mitchelltree curvilinear bedding I was referring to, Navcam from sol 806.
By the way, is there any chance Spirit would be able to make a quick run to the north facing slopes of Pitcher's Mound during the winter months?
Pitcher's Mound is on the west side of Spirit, its official name is Von Braun (not sure). The distance from its position to Von Braun is around 129 meters in a straight line. That is a tough distance for 5 tired wheels and the rover drivers must select the best route with thiner sand surface and estimate carefully about the power required to reach on PM before it is dead. It would be a very dramatic story.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit/images/sol_802_from_sol594.jpg
Rodolfo
129 meters is almost certainly too wide a gulf to 'sprint' across safely, but the point is that Low Ridge extends for some distance to the west from Spirit's present location. If we can map a sequence of safe north-sloping oases along the ridge, we might be able to narrow that gap significantly over the coming months. We might then be able to see enough isolated knolls across the gap to make the trip south feasible. Assuming we still have a significant interest in Von Braun, we might be prepared to take the risk. From there, in spring we would have a choice of directions, to south Home Plate or the Promised Land.
We need an energy map of Low Ridge first.
I just looked at an image from when Spirit was on top of Husband Hill... How clean she was back then
So I made this gif to show the current dust buildup
http://img106.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dust0cd.gif
A breath of wind could be used indeed
Here’s a Q&D pan from the 4/15/06 (Sol 811) pancam directory of exploratorium - a look toward Husband Hill and the edge of HP. There’s an interesting spot in the tracks here (second image below) where it looks as if the right front wheel may have failed to rotate momentarily, a few meters before it failed completely. Maybe, maybe not... it could just be a patch of soft-dust-ridge the wheels went through, and it does have some cleat marks, however they aren’t uniform.
Dusts Devils, Spirit Want You
It's OK Bob - I'll take this one...
Dust Devils did not clean Spirit.
Doug
You ought to consider programming a 'hot key' for this reply.
But I seriously worry that we may be getting more and more anxious for ANY sort of wind event as the months wear on at Low Ridge. Dust strangulation would be a particularly agonizing way for Spirit to go.
Common missconceptions require frequent correction.
I can see how and why it started - but the relation between cleaning and dust devils is simply that summer has stronger winds, and the summer also has more DD's. The connection is also furthered by the fact that we were in a topographically adventagous place during the summer.
Doug
Doug:
For this, you don't need an FAQ list, but instead a FIA list.
That's Frequently Ignored Answers...
Bob Shaw
Here is the complete view from Low Ridge Haven.
Spirit looking back at Husband Hill and surrounding.
Taken on Sol 811 with the R1 pancam.
jvandriel
In case you haven't seen it, a new rover update was posted on the marsrovers website http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html, dated the 14th. The 'news' is that the increase in power is, "50 to 60 watt-hours per sol" - which only "gives the rover enough energy for about one hour of daytime remote science."
Unfortunately that isn't much of an increase - but it at least allows some of the 'science' that many have longed to see.
One more item from http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1928&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 - we ~could~ be sitting virtually in one small area for 8 months... maybe - some of that determined by lowered driving ability. Here's part of the text.
"We have to use care choosing the type of terrain we drive over," Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, a rover planner at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., said about the challenge of five-wheel driving. In tests at JPL, the team has been practicing a maneuver to gain additional tilt by perching the left-front wheel on a basketball-size rock.
Spending eight months or so at Low Ridge Haven will offer time for many long-duration studies that members of the science team have been considering since early in the mission, said Dr. Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, deputy principal investigator. These include detailed mapping of rocks and soils; in-depth determination of rock and soil composition; monitoring of clouds and other atmospheric changes; watching for subtle surface changes due to winds; and learning properties of the shallow subsurface by tracking surface-temperature changes over a span of months.
There is nothing wrong with Spirit being a sessile observer for a while. This will give us a chance to do a long-term observation of the aeolian processes that we've seen many signs of. Remember where Spirit was at Sol 90: between Bonneville and The Hills and very dusty. This trek has been miraculous.
In an ideal world, the right front wheel should have conked out while she was doing a survey on top of VonBraun, now that would be a heck of a view.
--Bill
At least this low ridge has a lot of interesting things for Spirit to look at. And it seems to be closely associated with Home Plate so what she discovers here will undoubtedly tell a lot about that feature. Had she made it to the side of McCool Hill I am not sure we would have had as rich a target environment (for a -very- slow moving rover now).
A solid cleaning event would be nice, but Spirit probably has a long wait in store until the next one. The first, and I believe the most significant, cleaning event was on Sol 420, one sol before the first dust devils were spotted. That was LS 173, and we've got until January 26 of 2007 before that time of year will roll around again.
I like the look of this for the coming sol :
I'll get Helen to take a picture of me infront of some posters I'm putting up at the BAA conference this weekend, then someone can annotate appropriately
Doug
If they keep this pace of one row a day (let's hope not), it means a little less then one month to finish the 360º panorama.
I'm wondering if the atmosphere would be stable enough during all this time, otherwise we would have similar problems as on previous panoramas (Everest?) trying to match frames taken on different sols under different illumination conditions.
The alternative is to have it done in 4 columns at a time - and then the join between the 'batches' is bad
Doug
Some dramitic low angle sun illumination pics from Spirit's Pancam today
e.g. http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2006-04-18/2P198554431EFFAR00P2408R1M1.JPG
GORGEOUS image MahFL, thanks! Seems years since we were looking down on those ripples, doesn't it?
Wowww O_O, it's wonderfull! This is a spectacular view!
A hell of view!! It looks so real!
Marco, thanks for the mosaic!
Great view of Lookout Point ...
Inner Basin:
Now there's El Dorado amazingly glad to see it this way!
Nico
Dear Shaka, this was done by approximately rotating and joining single images through a photoretouch program.
This night I cannot go to sleep before this complete version: now made with AutoStitch, not easy due to strong differences in contrast/luminosity and for this reason required also lot of post-process adjustments, but I think the image is worth (hey, missed horizon on the right appear a little odd to me!).
Now Nirgal and Astro0 can do some magic on this!
Great panorama, Dilo. That pic is one of the best, most evocative I've ever seen. Makes Mars feel like a real "place", not just a point of light in the sky. That something could look so familiar yet be so very far away is something I am having a hard time wrapping my imagination around.
Wunderbar. Magnifique. Extraordinary. That panorama is a keeper. Thanks Dilo.
...Thanks to all but especially to Spirit!
(anyway, there is some strange thing on this "lookout hill", recalling me Nazca features... )
Not to take away any pending thunder from Nirgal or Astro0, but here's my attempt at artistically rendering dilo's superb panorama. I'm fairly new at this, so feel free to let me know how it can be improved. especially in terms of sky color.
http://www.marsgeo.com/Photos/Spirit/BestColour/s813_HP_HHill_c.jpg
Very well done aldo12xu!
Thanks, Michael
Here is the same 360 degree panoramic view from Sol 807
with additional images from the solar deck taken on Sol 813.
Taken with the L0 navcam.
jvandriel
and here is the panorama concentrated on Spirit. ( I have changed the
view direction 180 degree.)
Maybe one or both panorama's good for colourization by one of
the other members of this great forum ?
jvandriel
dilo, aldo... (cough, splutter!!!) you can't just go posting images like that without warning, it's not fair!!! I'm going to be in hospital for a week with the pain of my jaw hitting the floor!!! Just... just stunning....
Seriously, how do you guys DO that??? You take those grainy black and white images off Exploratorium and turn them into... that!! It's like me doodling a sketch of a stick man and the Mona Lisa appearing when my back's turned! We all owe you a huge thanks for the many, many hours you've put in on those images, taking us to Mars and turning it into a real place more than ever before.
That's one of my favourite pans yet aldo. Good work.
Hi Stu, thanks for the compliment. Nirgal and Astro0 are the real experts, though. But I'm glad I can make a reasonably artistic contribution. And your renditions are pretty stunning as well, especially the view from the rim of Victoria Crater and we're still 2000 metres away!! Now, that's impressive
Aldo inspired me, cannot resist to do my personal colorized version! (80% of original size, "artificial" sky).
Enjoy! (and thanks, Stu, for the nice words)
Thanks so much to have turned Spirit's picts into THIS !
All the area look much closer than ever. Very inspiring and uplifting. THIS must make it to Planetary Exploration books.
Oh my Lord, that is stunning. you guys are very, very good.
Magnificent.
Astro0, your canvas awaits you.
Going to be serious for a moment here. In times past, explorers such as Lewis and Clark recorded the landscapes of the so-called "Frontier" with pencils and in paint, not just for posterity, to record the details of the places they had seen, but so that the people "back home" could see those places and, possibly, be moved and inspired to go there and see them for themselves. Other painters, like Albert Bierstadt, travelled out to the Frontier to paint its sunsets, horizons and wonders; his paintings of Yosemite are the finest ever created, with breathtaking colour and energy, and have inspired generations of people to travel to the valley and experience its wonders for themselves.
The panoramas you've shown us today have the potential to be just as important, I really believe that. Possibly more than any before, they show Mars as a real world, they bring it to life. Show the average man or woman in the street a Viking, Pathfinder or for that matter MER image andthey'll just see rocks, dust dunes, a pink sky... show them this image and they'll see the beauty of the light there, the stark grandeur of the landscape, and the true beauty of the New World. I know this for a fact because I printed out and showed that panorama to people at work today, and several of them were stunned. And I mean stunned, they just stared at it quietly. One told me she finally, finally "got" why Mars fascinates me so much. You really should try and get that panoram - both versions of it - Out There to the public, via magazines, websites, newspapers, whatever means you can. That's a genuinely powerful, evocative image. It deserves to be seen by as many people as posible.
But something else occurs to me. Today we treasure "antique" pictures, paintings and photographs made decades or even centuries ago that show how our town/city/country used to look. I am 1000% sure that in years to come, that panorama of Husband Hill, with Ultreya/El Dorado branded on its side, will adorn the walls of many habitats on Mars, treasured by colonists and settlers as a snapshot of how their home used to look, back when it was "the frontier".
Good work guys.
Hi All,
Well, what can I say....that panorama is certainly one of the most dramatic images of the MER mission so far. I've been catching up with all the Rover news in the past 24 hours, having just returned from two weeks at JPL, Goldstone and KSC on a bit of a fact finding/education mission of my own.
Getting to have a look at Spirit and Opportunity's unnamed sibling in the Mars pit was a real treat, as well as meeting and lunching with some of the people who help to make the MERs happen.
I can't wait to get back into the swing of producing some new SFX images, and this panorama is certainly near the top of the list - although I think that it is 100% perfect as it stands in either colour, B&W, full or cropped field of view. Excellent work by EVERYONE
Cheers
Astro0
PS: Have to say that I got a real buzz at seeing one of my SFX images (Oppy Leaves Eagle) up on the wall in one office space at JPL - "I was over the moons of Mars!"
Oh mercy me, you kids have outdone yourselves.
A camera can create an image, but only a mind can create art.
--Bill
That's got to be my favorite panorama to date.
Hey, can one of you show the route Spirit took coming off the hill? Alan? Of course it should be posted in the Route map folder, but I'd love to see the route our plucky rover took getting off the hill...especially if were 'stretched' a bit to look 'hillier'.
Something tells me this won't be the last low-sun panorama Spirit takes this winter. Next we should get a look at sunrise, though McCool Hill may cast a shadow over the scene. Some real clouds over Husband Hill would also be superb.
How prescient of JPL to send Oppy to do its wonderful crater science, while giving us the Spirit of Exploration among the scenic wonders of the Columbia Hills.
May all its future Martian study sites be as inspired!
Good idea to put Route map...
I'm sorry, in the previous released image there was an error about Sol number, here corrected version:
It's a stunning image, for sure.
But if you ask me what is my favourite picture from a MER, then it surely is the first big color composite picture from Spirit when it still was on lander. I set that image as a wallpaper at work on a 21" monitor. That high res picture really created an intense impression, that the screen is just a window to Mars and that I really can reach through it and touch the rocks on the surface. I remember the sense of awe when I looked at this pic.
Borek
dilo, aldo: awsome, phantastic work !!
For the last couple of weeks I have been only occasionally checking the Opportunity board (
waiting for for new images of Victoria.) thought that we wouldn't see many new images from the "winter-parked" Spirit ... But little did I know what phantastic new images I was mising here in the Spirit board
hats off and Kudos for your great panoramas & colorizations ...
hopefully I too will find the time again to do some more image processing work
which I had to neglect recently because of other obligations (job, etc.)
Dilo & Aldo,
Incredible job!
One of the best panoramas ever worked.
Astro0,
I'm looking forward your SFX version with Spirit on the foreground and it's looong shadow.
Wonderful work you guys -I had a go at this one too. It's been a while since I've done anything with the raws (time... ) but here's another version of this marvelous scene...
http://www.awalkonmars.com/A1813PMR1Ec1.jpg
Nico
...!
Gosh, that really is rather good. I'm afraid the colour printer at work is going to be ticking up a few unauthorised copies tomorrow!
Unfortunately, most of Spirit's traverse since leaving the summit of Husband Hill is obscured by near-field topography.
Doug
Doug:
Have you been reading too many press releases? What's wrong with saying: 'You can't see there from here'? Or something equally, er, you know? Wossisname. Nothing wrong with plain English, oh no.
Can't get the staff.
Bob Shaw
Walter Gesundheit?
You mean, the one from Mc Mudro ?
They seems to have corrected that sequence name. It's now written as McMurdo on the tracking web.
BTW, the second row (of 27?) in that sequence is planned for sol 817 (tosol).
In re the truly lovely images of Husband Hill from Spirit's winter quarters:
Very nice, but not quite right. The automatic gain compensation of the imaging processes (stretching contrast, etc.) has rendered the extremely relatively dark El Dorado / Ultreya feature to be the same albedo as the surrounding, much brighter, hill and valley.
This would be a *perfect* image if El Dorado / Ultreya appeared as dark, in relation to the surrounding terrain, as it should be.
-the other Doug
I think it's actually the filter, or perhaps the filter and the lighting. The images are in R1 and R7; I think R1 has been used for the mosaics so far.
I think the lack of contrast in El Dorado / Ultreya is more an issue of filter choice. So far we just have R1 (blue) and R7 (Pancam's furthest IR). As we learned from the close-ups, the sands there are as bright if not brighter than the normal Gusev sands http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/708/2P189219370EFFAL00P2267L7M1.JPG, but dramatically less bright http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/708/2P189219314EFFAL00P2267L2M1.JPG. When we get some L2s or R2s, I'll bet the dark sands pop out again.
Doing an R711 combination seems to work moderately well:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=132348041&size=o
It's hard to get the balance right across multiple images, though.
Here we go again on the science side of the pictures!
You're right and I agree and I also say that the lower light the lower contrast. BUT, on this particular case, us, as UMSF'ers as well as as the general public who's paying for this, we've got even more return (ROI ) than we'd expected in our wildest thought.
How poetic I am...
Regarding the idea of plotting the route on this great new pan:
The route from the hilltop to Eldorado could be mapped very nicely. To the right of Eldorado, the prominent mound is Comanche. Miami is just above and somewhat to the right of it... yes, quite a bit could be plotted. But everything after Eldorado is lost.
But I don't have time to do it.
Phil
Nice to see that R1-7 combo Michael, hadn't taken the time to do it myself.
Individually, the shorter wavelengths will typically render darker areas brighter than they are while the longer (L/R2 for instance), like Slinted states will render the dark areas dark -or rather less reflective than they actually are under Martian lighting.
One can compare this being valid by looking at some radiance data from Opportunity dunefield scenery, while waiting for the 'right' data from Spirit sol 708 from El Dorado..
The reflected glare visible in the scene is also cause for the low contrast in some areas, due to the low sun-altitude. But I don't mind, the effect is indeed a very dramatic scene.
Nico
the incident angle shouldt matter too much sine the sandfield is not flat but wavy that vaiation should override and make somewhat insignifficant any change incident angle. otherwise ultreya would be very mottled looking based on its topography.
after cancelling out the effects of the filter used, i thought the 'lightening' of ultreya had more to do with the dynamic range of the exposure compressing the contrast between the soil values when a signifficant portion of the image is the sky, causing the white set point to hog the higher end of the dynamic range and robbing the darker portion of it contrast range.
The rift between artistic license and what's "real" can be a distant one. Here's my revised attempt to bridge the gap:
http://www.marsgeo.com/Photos/Spirit/BestColour/s813_HP_HHill_c.jpg
well spoken, shaka!
Concerning artifacts in the imagery, we all know by now not to make wild assumptions based on raw images.
Still, some rough comparisons can be made IMO if the time-interval is short enough. That's why I referred to comparing some calibrated Oppy-scenery through L2/L5/L7/R1 until we get to see some calibrated data for El Dorado.
Here's the L1 pan shot on sol 799.
[Radiometrically calibrated L1 images are used to produce estimates of the albedo (bolometric albedo; see page 23 of Bell et al.: Pancam In-Flight Calibration) for those interested in the technical stuff.]
http://www.awalkonmars.com/A1799PM8L1E1.jpg
while a 'raw' pan, this should provide a somewhat more realistic perception of the scene since L1 is centered at 739 nm with 338 nm bandpass (~largest wavelength coverage amongst the Pancam filters)
Nico
obviously an enhanced color version -
Nico
Mmmm.. lovely view Nirgal. Great job!
Nico
Very nice, Nirgal! People might be confused though: that is the daytime mosaic, and then there is also the sunset mosaic. Are you going to do the sunset mosaic too? And then a nice animated GIF switching between the two? The last should only be, oh, 34GB large in full resolution ;-)
To eliminate any confusion -sol 813 false-color R1-7 using synthetic green;
http://www.awalkonmars.com/A1813PMR1syngR7E1.jpg
edit: looks like we're having another pano-party
Nico
Congratulations, Nico: this must be the best Version of all (incl. full resolution and straightened horizon, simply perfect work !)
How nice that good old injured Spirit, even in Winter rest, still gives us "fuel" for such great panorama parties
One Question: Did you also use the combination of Sol 811 color and 813 illumination data ?
Thanks Nirgal, indeed an injured rover won't stop us -as long as the cameras work...
I didn't use the combination of sol 811/813 data. I will try it out though -but right now I'm awaiting my pizza delivery
What I like about your latest is that you kept the illumination low -and the 'mood' in the color range is very inspiring!
Nico
Spirit surrounding scenery has a bomb of very nice images and looks forward that the next time the Oppy's scenery site will too have ones nices when it approaches to any anomally tall ripple (soon) or close to a small crater previous with bright albedo to VC and VC itself.
Rodolfo
ssshhht - I'm losing my patience enough as it is to see Victoria!
Vielen dank Nirgal.
Nico
These panoramas are indeed all excellent - but all suffer from vignetting, which is made more obvious when the individual frame edges are visible in the sky. Could I suggest a further refinement might be to dodge and burn a few selected areas just to tie everything together?
I've done a quick and dirty example!
Bob Shaw
You are right Bob and your quick & dirty example sure is improving the result.
It must be said though that thanks to Michael's anti-vignetting tool a great deal of vignetting has probably already been compensated for.
If anyone is interested in further improving my version, feel free to mail for a layered .psd file for download.
I'll probably wait for the calibrated data to give it another go.
Nico
Great versions Nico & Nirgal!! And as Max suggested I moved the sun in my image a little bit to the left.
http://www.marsgeo.com/Photos/Spirit/BestColour/s813_HP_HHill_c.jpg
I thought I'd also let everybody know that Stu inspired me with his comments about getting this image out to the general public. I sent an email to Jim Bell with a link to our forum discussion and I got a response today. Here are some excerpts of what he wrote:
"It is absolutely thrilling--and incredibly fulfilling to me personally--to see you and so many others working
with the images and creating such beautiful products.
"Your Spirit sol 813 image is particularly well-timed, as I have been working on a monochrome and sepia-toned version of that mosaic for possible release on the JPL web site (if they will post it--sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, I'm not sure how they decide), and on our own internal Pancam web site (I hope you know about http://pancam.astro.cornell.edu/pancam_instrument/index.html) this week.
"This was shot using only two filters--spanning the broadest range of the camera's wavelength coverage--as part of an experiment to determine topography at large distances using images at multiple times of sol."
He goes on to say that the power levels were insufficient to acquire a 6 filter image set. And so his team will not be attempting any "approximate true color" version. What Nico, dilo, and Nirgal have generated will the most "realistic" versions out there.
Cool. Here, just for perspective (perspective projection, that is), is a wide view of the daytime pan, facing due North:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=133773198&size=o
Congratulations aldo on the very positive feedback from JB. Much deserved recognition of your work - and congratulations to everyone who's been busy making panoramas of this fantastic view, each one has brought something new and different to the scene, brought out even more of its beauty and grandeur.
When the great naturalist John Muir wrote the following words about the wonders of Yosemite...
"...In the supreme flaming glory of sunset the whole canon is transfigured, as if all the life and light of centuries of sunshine stored up and condensed in the rocks was now being poured forth as from one glorious fountain, flooding both earth and sky."
... I think he could just as easily have been talking about the landscape you've shown us these past few days aldo, Nirgal, Dilo, and all you other ImageMages.
I wonder how a martian-born John Muir will one sol describe the scenes we're all enjoying?
Cool, I was not aware of that pamcam site. I'm glad Jim Bell likes the work. Rob Manning stopped by the Mark Carey blog a few months ago, it's always nice when the pro's stop by or chime in.
Sunset animation on Sol 818. Color processing with an other color picture of a sunny rising.
http://www.astrosurf.com/merimages/Spirit/Inclassables/CoucherDeSoleilSol818.gif
(click on the picture to enlarge : 1,2 Mo gif)
Nice Sunset! What is the name of the hill?
The 'hill' is the southeastern part of the rim of Thira. Nice work Damien!
Compare;
http://www.awalkonmars.com/A1620PAM8L7R1E1-01.jpg
Nico
Sunrise! Sunset! Solrise! Solset!
Gotta love all this imagery work going on from UMSF'ers.
I know there have been a few requests for an SFX version of the Sunset Panorama.
I am working on it. Just taking some time with it as I really want to get the lighting and shadows right.
In the meantime, here's the background I'll be using.
Thanks to Nico for the starting point Your colours were definitely the best around.
I've enhanced it a little, improvements to vignettes, sky, foreground, shadows, etc just to flesh it out.
http://www.zip.com.au/~gjn/MERSFX/UMSF/solset_3840lg.jpg
Click image for larger version: 860k NB: A full resolution version available on request: 6.8mb
Enjoy
Astro0
http://www.zip.com.au/~gjn/MERSFX/indexSFX.html
Aldo, thanks forwarding us the J.Bell comments!
Astro0, I must admit your sunset version is probably the best one, I like to see how each of us gived some contribution to reach perfection! Now you know what to do, let SFX asap!!!
Yeah! Beautiful colors! Especially the smooth red color of the crests of Allegheny Ridge.
Very nice, Astro0.
The hill is at about -73 degrees ground-relative azimuth (slightly north of west) - somebody with a map can figure out which hill it is.
Here's the context view due west:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=134809881&size=o
Oh... my.... god.... A thing of beauty Astro... a thing of beauty....
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9049-spirit-to-start-digging-the-martian-dirt.html
NASA's Spirit rover, now safely holed up for the forthcoming Martian winter, is poised to start digging in the dirt.
No, thats Thira.
View of Sunset hill from sol 221 (on the right)
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/221/2P145981041EFF8500P2284L6M1.JPG
Astro, man, oh, man! That is perfection! All it needs is the cherry on top (of Home Plate)
Ooh -I've let my Thira-obsession fool me again
So it's either the distant western rim of Gusev or the big crater visible to the west seen in this Odyssey image;
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040103a.html
I've wondered earlier on in the mission (from the Cahokia pan I believe) wether this feature is that crater or not.
Astro0, awesome! Thanks a bunch for the improvement -I'd be very happy with the fullres
Note; Bob Shaw is if I'm not mistaken also working on improving the scene, looking forward to his work too.
Nico
Astro0:
Great image - and yes, those vignetting improvements were exactly what I had in mind! How do you fancy extending the sky so that it's in the correct proportions for a standard Windows desktop? Yes, I *know* it'd be big, but Mars needs desktops!
Bob Shaw
an aid in identifying the feature maybe;
http://www.awalkonmars.com/1Loc_USGS-Geodesy-256img.HR.jpg
Nico
Spirit will try to dig the land with its rock abrasion tool!!! The RAT is useless so it will be used for digging!
For the first time this mission, Spirit will try to look at the Martian soil at various depths, utilising the rock abrasion tool on its robotic arm as a digger. The rover will first try to determine the uppermost soil's composition, before brushing away a layer of soil – from a millimetre to a centimetre – so that the experiment can be repeated on the next layer, and so forth.
This week, teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, US, will simulate the soil experiment with an Earth-based test rover before Spirit tackles the real soil.
Around the HRL has many stones with holes.
The dark grey rocks with small holes in them may have come from volcanic sources. Light, thin jagged rocks are jutting out from the sand. And on the top of a drift sits a smooth light grey rock.
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9049-spirit-to-start-digging-the-martian-dirt.html
Rodolfo
P.D.Astr0, Super appealing picture only for the please visual but in the reality, it would be alike to a very good and nice yellowish sun afternoon.
Interesting, there's also this thread started on the subject ;
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=2648
An http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060425_rovers_update.html posted today by veteran reporter Leonard David is the first that I've seen to disclose that "Low Ridge Haven" was named for one of the quiet giants of space exploration, http://www.apollostory.com/albums/fire/f07.htm.
TTT
astro...
Two questions:
#1: can I use your panorama in a talk I'm giving to a group of schoolkids next week? I'd love to show the little gremlins cherubs what Mars really looks like... And
#2: how do we get the full resolution version? Is it going to be on your website?
Stu, Please go ahead and use the image for your school talk. Anything we can do to encourage the next generation of UMSF'ers is fine with me!
On the high-res version...there have been a few requests for it already (Chris, Pertinax and others).
So rather than killing my email at home (I'm still only on a 56k modem), I think that I will post it to my website and kill the bandwidth there instead. I hope to finish the SFX version with the Rover added to the image in the next day or so, but I will post the sans-rover version later tonight (in about 12 hours - local time). I'll put a link on UMSF.
Thanks for the feedback everyone.
Astro0
Hi All,
As per requests, the higher resolution version of the Solset image is now online at my http://www.zip.com.au/~gjn/MERSFX/indexSFX.html.
I've reduced the file size a bit, so it's only 3.8mb. Enjoy
As per Bob Shaw's request, please see the image below ready made as a desktop wallpaper.
Beautiful.
A myriad of thank yous!
-- Pertinax
Indeed, nice job!
Nico
Maybe you think I'm a "perfectionnist" but I've make a more realistic sky with gradation of the color : more and more darkness with the approach of the zenith
Do you like the bit tranformation I've put on your wallpaper Astro_0...?
Thx - Fabulous solset! - Must say that El Dorado looks totally unreal... but it does so in reality, so that is fine!
The Sun should indeed be off the frame; one could extend the sky (and use navcam overlays to make the sky gradation), put the Sun in the right spot, some annotation in place of the missing foreground, take out the excessive blue particularly dominating El Dorado, etc...
There is always room for improvement -or so I believe.
Indeed, a lot of fun working together on things like this
Nico
Great images - and now I have several new desktops to choose from!
Bob Shaw
I absolutely agree dilo. There's just so much data, and so much to learn about the possibilities in handling them... in many ways.
I'm good for life
Nico
Great version, Psukata!
In my opinion though, next to Astro0 adding the rover, the obsolute crowning cherry on top of the cake would be to show a bright blue evening star (earth) emerging out of the dark sky above Husband Hill..........anyone?
OK. So it's back to the drawing board then. Thanks for the rush of input from everyone.
I'm sure that at the end of this process we'll have generated the most awesome, cheery-topping panorama from Mars ever -- excluding of course the vista from the edge of Victoria Crater when Oppy gets there.
NB: This will of course push back the final SFX version until we get majority UMSF agreement on the background
Cheers
Astro0
Rome wasn't built in a day, right, Dilo?
Head out in the scrub, Astro0, and watch a few Aussie sunsets!
Spirit's not going to run away.
No time to watch an Earth sunset Shaka.
As you know, I spend all my days and nights on Mars.
If I'm not tracking Rovers, I'm drawing them.
I'm off to play with Photoshop now.
See you tosol.
Astro0
I'm a little worried by dust accumulation in the last weeks...
Look at these sundial pictures taken with L456 filters:
Here the first part of the big pano that Spirit will build on his Winter Quarter location :
http://www.astrosurf.com/merimages/Spirit/Panoramas_couleur/ADroiteDeMcCool_Couleurs.jpg
This is the first -I believe- that Spirit take picture toward horizon in full resolution and with all the filters. It reveal the good colors of the site.
Dilo : it's very clear the fact that some dust are deposing on the rover. It's unhappyness
>I'm a little worried by dust accumulation in the last weeks...
That is worrisome, but looking at the ground at Spirit's feet you can see that this locale can be quite windy. Likely, the wind is seasonal but I'm not sure of the current cycle. Even though this is Winter and the Sun is lower and heats the ground less, the overall temperature is also lower: thermal winds rely on temperature differences in the air and the potential for mid-afternoon winds (or night winds from the air cooling and sinking into the valley) is present.
--Bill
Meanwhile, "McMurdo" panorama is slowly being shooted and downlinked.
This is what's available for the time being (in L7 filter):
Q'n'A is done, just waiting for Emily to put it on TPS website - but Jim said they have about 10% of the whole thing down, and the L7/R1 will be uncompressed, and the remaining filters will have very little compression.
Doug
It's a bit late to the party, but here is the MMB perspective view of the sunset mosaic:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=135997352&size=o http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=135997347&size=o&context=photostream
Here is the MMB view of the big pan so far (L7 filter), and an anaglyph view that I haven't even tried out yet:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=135997305&size=o http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=135997286&size=o
And a couple more just for perspective:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=135997334&size=o http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=135997329&size=o&context=photostream
Enjoy.
Thanks for those views Michael, good too see Spirit included..
and you being late..makes for a good excuse to party just a bit longer
Nico
The Q&A was brilliant. Really well done.
Thanks to Doug and Emily for all their work.
Great insight into the mission from Jim Bell.
More! More! More! Please
Astro0
I just wanted to jump in and say that the look-back at Home Plate, Husband Hill, and El Dorado that all of you people have been collaborating on is truly breath-taking. I've always had trouble picking my "favorite" view, as captured by our beloved rovers and artistically interpreted by the masters here. But, if ever there was one, this must be it.
If someone can give me a good indication of where Earth would be seen in the Low Ridge Haven image, I'm happy to oblige.
In the meantime, take a look at my own version of 'A Moment Frozen in Time' to which I added an Earth-star. Just for effect only and as always, not portraying any scientific accuracy.
After all it is an "artist's impression" for heart-warming value only.
Notwithstanding your "not portraying any scientific accuracy" diclaimer, I'm going to push a little for detail....
If that's Spirit, she must be looking at a midwinter sunrise for Earth to get so far down toward the horizon. (If it's Opportunity she's really travelled a long way...) Spirit is about 15deg S, Mars tilt is 25deg, I don't know about Earth's orbital inclination relative to Mars but it ain't much.
Oh, and, it's still a lovely picture.
Thanks to everyone who's worked so hard on the various versions of the "Solset panorama". Little something for you http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=2571&view=findpost&p=52309 over on the "Rover related writing" page...
From the http://www.planetary.org/news/2006/0428_Mars_Exploration_Rovers_Update_Spirit.html that Bobby posted http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=2679:
"The first phase of the winter campaign consists of two sets of activities: one is acquiring what's probably going to be the biggest panorama we've ever done, the McMurdo pan. That's going to be all 13 filters -- all the colors we've got -- and for a number of filters it will be uncompressed data, so it'll be extremely high resolution." The mosaiced panorama will ultimately be comprised of some 1500 images that will take weeks to acquire and weeks to dowload, he added, "but it's going to be a really remarkable dataset."
Wow. Anyone happen to have a PC with quad-processors and about 16GB of RAM?
And yet again, it's another "for my next trick" moment - 8 months of science ahead. That's about 2.5 original-missions long.
Psh, 90 sols. Yeah, we can do that, no problem.
I think 1500 images in 13 filters, that's 115 pointings. The Lion King pan was 93 pointings - so there's an extra 22 frames in there somewhere.
Doug
Rover's probably checking it's belly button for belly button lint.
I suppose you could add in calib-target images into the equation - that would add a lot of images to it
Doug
It would also be neat to do a sequence like Pathfinder's super-pan, in which images are intentionally taken with the same filter at slighty different pointings. That would definitely be a good project if either rover becomes permanently stuck but still has a working pancam.
Here is my own interpretation of sol 813 late afternoon colors by creating a synthetic green filter fusing the iR and blue channels. Then I averaged the sky to better show its gradual darkening : the colors are the real ones ! (file reduced to fit in the Forum)
Enjoy !
... PLUS the wallpaper versions (1280x1024 and 1440x900 pixels) !
Enjoy !
Thanks Olivier, STUNNING images, as usual! Spooky timing because I was just leafing through "VISIONS OF MARS" again today, losing myself all over again in those gorgeous landscapes...
Wish I could do that, create beautiful landscapes out of the raw images, but I can't. Instead I can only write about it, so, to say thank you to you, dilo, Astro0, Nirgal and all the other ImageMages who live here, I thought you deserved your own tale...
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/1493p0.html
Hi Stu! (waves) great story, as usual, but still an adventure to read...
Cool stuff Olivier Gotta love the colors!
Nico
I've started to work on the McMurdo pan...
Here are the 28 pointings (7 columns) taken so far (upto tosol, 827) in L7.
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~jcanvin/mer/index.html#A0814
Half & quarter resolution versions on my website (click image)
James
And here is a rough version of the 14 frames that are down (nearly) completely in L234567:
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~jcanvin/mer/index.html#A0814c
Again, half & quarter resolution versions on my website (click image)
This is the first time i've used the full L234567 and I've essentially mixed different filters to get RGB in a pretty random way (a little of this, a bit more of that). If anyone has any better idea of approximately what proportions of each I should be using, I'd love to here it.
Cheers,
James
Very nice.
This is going to be one heck of a panorama.
And here's to hoping for another hell of a victorious panorama from the other side of the planet.
Edit: Wow, in that color image, Spirit looks to have a ghastly amount of dust on those panels. Here's hoping for a good dust devil cleaning.
*Ducks as Doug violently swings a vacuum cleaner at my head.*
Speaking of dust. I just had a thought - might it have been better for Spirit to remain on a northward sloping side of Home Plate? I don't recall there being a whole lot of dust deposition there, and some of those slopes looked like they endured constant wind erosion. Now looking around, there are wispy sand ripples. I'm just wondering if one of those sides of Home Plate would have been better for cleaning winds, rather than where Spirit's at now, which might actually be a place for dust deposition.
Interesting new release
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20060501a.html
or
http://marswatch.astro.cornell.edu/pancam_instrument/low_ridge.html
Notice how the JPG'ing of the raw releases don't retain the same level of detail as calibrated data... tracks visible in the proper release, but just not quite there in the JPGs
Doug
http://www.awalkonmars.com/AMC-814-PCM8L234567E1.jpg
Another 'preview' on the long-but finished awesome Mc Murdo pan
Nico
Very nice, Nico
This is going to be soooo awesome; can't wait to see the whole set on MMB...
Here are a couple McMurdo-in-progress perspective views. I might play with the color a bit yet.
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=139577490&size=o http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=139577453&size=o
Sunset on Mars.
Seen by Spirit on Sol 818.
Taken with the L7 pancam.
jvandriel
I've added another column to the L7 pan (that makes 8, 1/3 of the way there!) and redone the 14 frame full colour one (no missing sections and better colour)
I won't bother putting the thumbnails in this time, save a bit of bandwidth.
See http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~jcanvin/mer/.
James
I've just found this on the tracking web plan for tosol (830); a rat brush movie of 100 pics.
It'll be something like 22348 x 4000, to as much as 6000.
At a poster sort of resolution ( 150dpi ) you could do that at 3.7 x 0.6-1m
Doug
>It'll be something like 22348 x 4000
Amazing what can be done with that 1 megapixel pancam and a desktop computer...
--Bill
"Amazing what can be done with that 1 megapixel pancam and a desktop computer..."
You'll need a BIG wall too
"Spirit will remove a layer of soil up to 1 millimeter thick (the thickness of a dime)." - per http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html
Well, the pictures coming back looks like the first attempts at “1 millimeter removal” of soil thickness were fairly well mucked up. What seems to have been created is more or less a sticky-wicket of piled up soil in a deeper hole than intended.
I hope they have better results in future attempts. I'd really like to see gradual 1mm 'removal.'
Yep, that wicket surely looks sticky. The soil is so fluffy-yet-cohesive that brushing is difficult. I wonder if they could place the "positioning ring" of the RAT just on the surface and move the arm laterally to scrape the surface?
--Bill
NASA Mars Rover Spirit Status 5 May 2006
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=20515
"Spirit is healthy and continuing to make progress on the rover's winter
campaign of scientific experiments. This week Spirit continued work on
the full-color, 360-degree "McMurdo panorama." The finished panorama
will combine 27 columns of images."
Well, after much delay, here's the SFX shot of the sunset panorama.
I hope that this quarter-resolution version comes up OK. My screen's Gamma correction wasn't at optimum.
Enjoy
Astro0
PS: A full-res version will go up on my website in a day or so.
Very nice, Astro0. Could you make a version with reduced glare around the rover?
Yes -very nice Astro0 !
Spirit looks good in that sunlight
Nico
Dilo, I could make one without the glow, but it's that effect which I think makes the picture.
It puts Spirit 'into' the scene. It took a while to get the Rover to look right, so perhaps only if I get lots of requests to do an alternate version. I'll think about it
Nico, a big thanks to you. It was your version of the panorama that I based my work on (you're credited on the image). I just made a few minor changes with colour, foreground, sky and Sol-light (Sun "off camera" as requested by Shaka and others).
I think we were all moved when we first saw that panorama in greyscale and later versions in colour. The image title, "Setting Spirits Aglow" is a play on that feeling. It certainly set the spirits of UMSF'ers aglow, and depicting MER-Spirit also glowing in this setting is fitting to the warm glow that I think we all feel for these amazing vehicles, their creators/operators, and for the great adventure they have been able to share with all of us.
Astro0
Gorgeous pic Astro0, and a wonderful tribute to our plucky little gal!
Just to let you know, I showed your original 'solset panorama' at my astronomy society meeting last night, and it was a huge hit. A couple of people asked for the URL of your website so they could go download their own version, and a couple more, without internet connections (yes, there are some of them left!) asked if it would be available as a poster... there's a thought...
Beautiful, Astro0!
Like Dilo, I think a little bit of reduced glare would be ok; please consider this as another vote to the "lots of requests to do an alternate version".
And speaking of changes/improvements/wishes to this SFX pic, what do you think of placing Spirit farther of the camera just enough to see its long shadow casting on the ground?
Astro0...Just FAN-TAS-TIC!
Just perfect, Astro0, thanks!
I like the glow. You've captured Spirit's spirit...
Astro0, it is such a wonderful image.
Yeesss !!! Astro_O, it's a good work, very good! Thank you!
I've the impression that the rover fly over the ground, no contact to the ground. It's me or...?
Beautiful image, but I must ask - would the pancam and mast still be
such a pristine white after so long on the dusty Martian surface?
Can you make an 800 x 600 version? Thanks.
Beautiful rendering Asto0! And great idea about the glow, metaphorically and figuratively
ljk - Stu knows that, which is why he said 'ducks' afterwards as a metaphor for the incoming slap from me, as I'm usually the one who shouts "OI - IT WASN'T BLOODY DUST DEVILS"
Doug
I'm usually the one who shouts "OI - IT WASN'T BLOODY DUST DEVILS"
Doug
I Hope your' not too nervous waiting for the next one! I mean "quote", not DD
Here is the mosaic after brushing on Sol 830.
Taken with the Mi camera.
jvandriel
Oh, no. Cr*p c*rcles! Maybe it's the Bird 'Flu...
Bob Shaw
Here is the mosaic taken on Sol 822 with the Mi cam.
Is it at the same place?
jvandriel
I could get used to a background like that
Stu
Nico
Thanks for the comments on the SFX image.
The full-size image is now online at my http://www.zip.com.au/~gjn/MERSFX/indexSFX.html. I had to compress the JPG file a little because I've run out of space at my ISP account. Hmm, maybe it's time to actually register a domain name and get some room to grow.
Just as an aside about panoramas as wallsize images. At the DSN Complex where I work we have a full-scale replica of the Rover displayed on a simulated Mars surface with a 6-metre by 2-metre (20-feet x 6-feet) background panorama taken by Spirit from the top of Husband Hill. The effect of the Rover sitting in front of this spectacular image (with some SFX enhancements; extended sky etc) is amazing. I'll have to take a photo of it and post it here later.
Any good commercial printer that can do large-format printing can work with images like the McMurdo pan. At a final print resolution of 100dpi you can easily bump up the scale of this image to beyond your average wallsize. It may cost you between $1-$2K to produce it on a good medium like 2-3mm foamcore, but the final effect would be well worth it.
Astro0
Yup, a $2K picture of Mars with Rover at my house would land me in court in a heartbeat. I get heavy flack over an 8x10, the priorities are so different.
"Normal people just don't overdose on multiple pictures of some damned machine running around on Mars!" "Just how many do you need?"
And so it goes...
"Just checking up on the rovers, dear!"
"Are those *&^%*%^$ things still going?"
Phil
(I'm kidding, of course... )
Gee, now I'm going to be responsible for divorces.
Well, if your partner doesn't like Mars and Rovers, maybe you weren't meant to be together anyway (really kidding!)
I'm fortunate that my wife is extremely understanding. I know that I have to be, as she is a fanatical Superman fan/collector. So she has no grounds for complaint...as long as I don't complain.
Of course, the $1-$2K is in Australian dollars, probably much cheaper elsewhere in the world.
But then what price do you place on enjoying feeling like you're on Mars.
Here's a shot of our exhibit at the Canberra DSN. There's still some Mars-like soil to put in to finish it off.
The public are just amazed by how large the rover actually is...they expect it to be like a small toy. Mind you, they had no idea about the size of Sojourner either.
Astro0
"Another rock! How Exciting!" But then I threaten her with taking up model railroading instead....
Astro your SFX site is beautiful!
Astro - I think there's a bunch of folks here who'd just love a _lot_ more photographs of that model.
It's not a fantastically detailed model, but it is full-scale.
I know I'm very glad to have it. I used parts of it as a reference to help produce the 'Setting Spirits Aglow' panorama.
Speaking of panoramas...I was just outside here at the Canberra DSN and took some photographs of our 70-metre antenna while it is doing a tracking pass with Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor.
When I looked at the scene, photographed at 4.30pm local time, and with the hills and shadows in the background, and knowing that we were in comms with the Mars' orbiters, I had this moment of dejavu...this scene was eerily familar...
I did a quick autostitch of the scene and then flipped it horizontally and....hey presto!...an earthly version of the solset panorama! The long shadows, the sunlight off-camera, and a link to Mars...just remove the trees, add some more rocks and I'm there, standing next to Spirit. Sent a shiver down my spine.
Had to share this scene with the rest of the UMSF crowd.
Enjoy
Astro0
I am *so* going to have to come and have that tour of cdscc!
Thanks for the pics Astro0.
James
Wonderful images, Astr0. Thanks for sharing!
In my mind's eye, I see something like the attached cut&paste. The skyglow in both images needs to be in the center and everything else composed symmetrically about that. One change: Husband Hill ought to fade into the 70m hill behind the antenna with the horizons at the same level so that Gusev fades into Canberra and both dishes pointing at the same imaginary point above the image. You'll probably have to do a re-shoot of the antenna site image and make some slight re-arrangement of the Spirit image, but that juxtaposition would be wonderful.
Thanks!
--Bill
When KodakGallery had their 50% off 16x20 and 20x30 a while back, I had a bunch of the panoramas made up, some of them even as 2x1 or 4x2, umm...inverse mosaics? I have them all in tubes, because I plan to prime and paint the garage walls a nice Mars tan, and then put the Mars pictures up there.
I've just found that 'Oki' make some fairly large pan paper - A4 width of course, but 900mm long
Doug
Now that's interesting. ..Haven't had much succes trying to find rolls around here.
I'd really like to have A4 & A3 sized photo-paper on a roll (say a couple of meters)
Anyone knows if one can order this kind of product from Canon, Epson,...?
Nico
Consider that your average monitor is 70 - 90 dpi, then at a viewing distance of anything more than about 3ft, 150dpi is serious overkill
Doug
Epson sell A3 width 10m rolls for about 20-30 quid I think - and I'm sure other manufacturers make it as well
After my shed, and a 24" monitor - an A3 printer (Epson R1800 perhaps) is next
Doug
On a positive note, recent Navcam images of the solar panels show that the panels are fairly clean, so there has been some degree of wind cleaning at this site.
--Bill
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2006-04-17/2N198537857EFFAR00P1988L0M1.JPG
all right thanks Bob!
Any idea though about quality using a Canon i9950?
Nico
How ironic that after the fervent anticipation of a panorama from the summit of Husband Hill, Spirit's definative panorama may end up being one from the bottom of Inner Basin.
Ow. This conversation is not the subject of the topic, isnt'it?
I'm not a moderator but this is about technical question ... not Spirit state at Low Ridge
I wonder howe long this thread will get before Spirit moves on.
Opportunity will probably have arrived at and done a good bit of exploring at Victoria. Spirit's going to be in one place for a good long time.
yet more off-topic printing-stuff (hit me )
Thanks again Bob, I'll let you know how it turns out.
I'm starting a new job in a few weeks, at the town's printing office...
I hope to learn some interesting stuff there..and test some machinery
Nico
Found a printing service for panoramas:
http://www.ezprints.com/ezdirect/products.asp?Type=Panorama
Here is the version with the missing data filled in.
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~jcanvin/mer/index.html#A0814
And quite a big download of colour as well over the weekend.
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~jcanvin/mer/index.html#A0814c
This is just a quick taster, I need to think a lot more about full (L234567) colour generation in the near future.
James
Latest colour version...
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~jcanvin/mer/index.html#A0814c
James
thinking about colors James...same thing here
Let me join you with a quick (horizon only) view of the scene
http://www.awalkonmars.com/A1814-McMurdoHHhorizonPCML234567EF1.jpg
Nico
Spirit is getting even dirtier. See her solar panels cowered by powder:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2006-05-19/2P201292678EFFAR00P2293L7M1.JPG
Rodolfo
That's a beauty, Nix!
...that little wispy fragment sticking up is actually part of the 'rotten rock':
http://mars.lyle.org/imagery/stereo/2-201292678-P.jpg
Like Jimmy 'The Hammer' Valentine always said: "crazy stuff, man! craaaaazy stuff!"
Nice view of the Gusev rim in the latest McMurdo images
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2006-05-19/2P201290814EFFAR00P2293L7M1.JPG
And the latest L7.
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~jcanvin/mer/index.html#A0814
Wheeltracks and the brushing target "Progress"
A mosaic taken with the L0 navcam on Sol 834.
jvandriel
The extra dusty appearance of the panels is at least partly due to the "up-sun" viewing geometry of the image. The forward-scattering increases the brightness of the dust.
Here is the mosaic from Sol 842.
Taken with the Mi cam.
jvandriel
A pancam view looking back at McCool Hill and El Dorado.
Taken on Sol 846 with the L2 pancam.
jvandriel
B)-->
The question is: Why another image of HH & El Dorado when we already have it in all filters in the McMurdo pan?
The answer, according to the tracking site is "846 p2411.15 4 4 0 0 1 9 pancam_ElDoradoChange_L27"
They are looking for changes in El Dorado. From this range! Seems unlikely we'll see anthing at this resolution but I guess if you don't look you don't see.
Maybe we're waiting to see the sand drain into the abyss we all know is under there.
Hasn't there been a noticeable change in El Dorado visible from different MOC-images?
Nico
Here is my version of the Horizon panorama. ( Part of the Mc Murdo panorama.)
Taken between Sol 814 and 846 with the L2 pancam and colourized.
jvandriel
As some of you mentioned, it must be " HUSBAND Hill ".
Sorry for the mistake.
jvandriel
Here is part 1 of the Mc Murdo panorama.
Taken with the L2 pancam between Sol 814 and Sol 846.
jvandriel
[quote name='jamescanvin' date='May 23 2006, 02:42 AM' post='55332']
The question is: Why another image of HH & El Dorado when we already have it in all filters in the McMurdo pan?
The answer, according to the tracking site is "846 p2411.15 4 4 0 0 1 9 pancam_ElDoradoChange_L27"
They are looking for changes in El Dorado. From this range! Seems unlikely we'll see anthing at this resolution but I guess if you don't look you don't see.
Maybe we're waiting to see the sand drain into the abyss we all know is under there.
I heard, I think last month, that they are devolopping a software that'll allow the rovers to take pictures when what they "see" change. It's intended to capture dust devils when they occur instead of shooting and shooting and shooting and hoping to get one. This will also preserve limited power ressources. I wonder if they are testing this software. I don't think El Dorado will be a good target. I don't even know if pancam will be involved instead of navcam. Anyway, do you have news about this software? I think they talked about uploading it in june.
Doug, may be a question for Jim Bell for next interview.
I don't see how this can work *without* shooting lots of pictures, as you have to capture the images in order to see if there is a change. A more likely optimisation is that they delete images if they see no change, and don't fill up the flash.
Chris
Nope - nothing to do with software updates or identifying changes etc - it's studying the same patch of ground in different lighting conditions as mentioned in the last PC update.
This is L2&7 - remember that very low sun mosaic that we so popular..that was L2&7 as well ....and I'm sure there will be others.
Doug
Have there been any L247 sequences lately?
Nico
Sorry. Just a quick note OT.
Your're invited to the UMSF Virtual BBQ with Spirit at this http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1896&st=150&gopid=55394&.
Cheers
Astro0
[quote name='chris' date='May 23 2006, 12:42 PM' post='55376']
I don't see how this can work *without* shooting lots of pictures, as you have to capture the images in order to see if there is a change. A more likely optimisation is that they delete images if they see no change, and don't fill up the flash.
Chris
You're right Chris. I wonder how different the software will be compared to the one used during EDL. It was supposed to compare 3 pictures taken a few second appart and deduce mouvment from this. Basicaly, it's the same logic.
Basically, by using the onboard computer to diff the images and tossing out the duplicates that dont exceed some threshold (which will be quite an impressive algorithm, since atmospheric/daytime diffs will make a lot of difference for the timeframe involved)
...then the MER won't have to spend that energy sending the similar-enough-to-be-tossed-out pix home, and can save that extra x-mission energy on something else more productive, which is probably a sizeable chunk of power although i admit my expertise on this is completely negatory.
Therefore, we should get some pretty good sequnces out of Spirit as she sits put, especially as they refine the algorithm to capture interesting landscape timelapses, and the UMSF-ers in these threads willl be providing to us lots of movies, right?
To pass the time during these long winter nights, i've been experimenting with different projections of the images (and combining pancam and navcam images) to get the rovers 'in shot'.
Here's what i've come up with so far...
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~jcanvin/mer/index.html#A0814tm
Enjoy,
James
Nice one James, especially like the beautiful fine detail visible on the ground around Spirit.
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