And as for the high resolution visible - oh BOY was that puppy out of focus....these should be stars, and the second is the moon. REALLY bad.

Nest of images - probably nothing new compared to what was done back when they had dodgy JPG's out - but it still makes me go "Woo - data"

Doug

Just for a laugh - what I THINK are the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th from last images from the impactor. The last image is too blured, and the penultimate image is a partial product....

These 5 mosaic well, then it's a bit of a 'huh' few images, then it picks up again.

Doug

I had a quick look at that, and I'll see if I can define parameters for it - thanks for the heads up

Doug

Later on ( 2005/120 ) I think they must have run an impactor simulation - as they have the very rapid, smaller and smaller images of...well, where else would you practice but...SATURN

(I know - odd eh - but novel and interesting little pictures anyway)

These are the first and last images from the sequence.

Doug

http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/missi...pact/index.html

I'm always a fan of obscure data sets, so where best to start with the astonishing imagery of Deep Impact than with....

Impactor camera calibration images of M11

Well - I thought I'd start with the obscure

Doug

Does anyone know of a tool to batch convert FIT files to,say, PNG or similar in the way that IMG2PNG does for IMG files?

I've been looking at the PDS, and the DS1 and DI data sets all use FIT format, and while there is a photoshop importer by ESA, it's not an automated system and is a bit clunky.

Any pointers much appreciated.

Doug

That was the actual line I quoted from the previous poster - I know, you know, and we all know it's 13 months


Right





I'll admit it - when I saw that pic, I thought "Hell - that's a hot water tank"

Doug

Yes - the Deep Field / Ultra Deep Field imaging just couldnt be done. One thing that I would quite like to see, is Keck image Mars at the same opportunity as Hubble - as that would make an interesting comparison sans AO

Doug

I THINK it might be real - Jason will probably smack me down for this....but is it Cloud?

On second thoughts - it does seem to simply appear and dissapear with unusual filters - maybe it IS an imaging artifact - it doesnt quite move with Titan does it? JASON!!! Help!!

A quick RGB, I love these high angle images

Doug

I just had an image in my mind of the two scopes going head to head in Robot Wars, with Hubble coming out a crippled wreck

It's true, Keck's doing astonishing things, but the AO, as I understand it, works best only in the near IR, whereas Hubble can perform across the board.

Doug

I think it just LOOKS like it's copper clad. iirc

Doug

Ahh right - I just seem to remember them mentioning it quite a bit back with MER landings - they were probably hyping up the issue for something to talk about during the quiet times

Doug

Weh hey

I love "It doesn't appear to be so inclined. " - That's GENIUS

Doug

Remember - MER rides most of it's DSN time on the back of Odyssey Only a brief uplink every day, plus a beep to confirm a sequence hand over

Of course, DSN upgrades are beginning to allow for multiple spacecraft to use a single dish. i.e. Odyssey, MGS, and MER beep off one dish pointed Marsward.

Doug

That's CP.

Doug

Also - http://www.planetary.org/rrgtm/press-photos.html


Doug

Dragging up an old thread, but I've spoken to Jim Bell about this and the root cause was that the filter wheel wasnt heated enough. It was an early morning sequence, and the thermal system engineers did not think that the wheel would be as cold as it was, so they didnt use the heater. It turned out that it was JUST a little bit too cold and so there was some 'stiction'. The right filter wheel doesnt stick until a tiny bit colder than the left wheel, and just by chance, the temperature at the time was between the two.

No harm done, and the wheel has been fine ever since, they've just adjusted the thermal models and reshot the sequence later.

Doug

2.3 times wider, and about twice the radius - thus a 'contact patch' 4.6 times larger.

MER 185 / 6 = 30.83kg per 'unit of contact patch'

MSL (600 / 6 ) / 4.6 = 21.7kg per 'unit of contact patch'

When you mean improved - do you mean this number should go up, or down? There's arguments both ways Up would give better traction on slopes. Down would give better driving-over-soft-stuff driveability.

DOug

Well - the managers in the press conf's seemed to be fairly sure of the potential for one ( and infact they used plural... comets ) or more comet and/or asteroid flybys in the future. It has a reasonable camera ( not great, but some pictures are better than no pictures ), and the dust instruments, and it's well armed with it's Whipple Shields.

http://discovery.larc.nasa.gov/discovery/dpl.html
and specifically - http://discovery.larc.nasa.gov/discovery/P.../Discovery1.pdf ( to be updated soon with post-flyby figures ) specify what's possible with it.

The managers were talking very ambiguously, as this is a competative discovery AO, but I imagine they'll be the one's to propose an extended mission, and would be most likely to get it. A few $10m's seems a bargin for an extra flyby to help us understand these strange bodies a little more, particularly given that CONTOUR never needed it's running costs and analysis money.

Doug

Given the time the image was taken...the sun don't rise at 5pm

Doug

I thought it was time, with the Atlas V about to roll out - for a new thread for NH for the launch etc.

Someone asked over at the HZ just how NH can go so fast, this was my reply....



I'm not one for good luck charms (although I'll eat peanuts during a Martian EDL with the best of them), but this mission has been so long in coming, that it deserves every ounce of luck it can have - the best, most accurate launch possible, the cleanest checkout, and incident free cruise to Jupiter.

Goodluck and Godspeed little one, we're with you every step of the way.

Doug
PS - Alan, you're a credit to your field, spending so much time answering questions and writing the PI Perspectives, it's been a hell of a journey!

You've probably spotted odd Navcam sequences that involved lots of shots of the same 4 spots at different times of day.

If you take all the images from the 4 days they did this, you get 10 or 11 frames in sequence, each from about 0940 to 1715 lmst

I've sequenced the lot, having each frame last 1 second, with three, 0.2 second frames in between to fade from one to the next.

These are all 512 x 512, about 500-600kb, last about 17 seconds, and require QT7 (for H264 support)

Roughly North http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_images/t_l_o_1.mov
Roughly East http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_images/t_l_o_2.mov
Roughly South http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_images/t_l_o_3.mov
Roughly West http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_images/t_l_o_4.mov

It would probably be possible to reproject this as a little movie 'circle' with all 4 at once, but there's one frame missing from the West image, and...to be honest...I cant be bothered

Doug

That will be the sun setting in the west.

Doug

I think it will probably just be a little 'back away' from where they are to image it with Pancam and TES the ratholes etc. No need for a RHAZ if that's all they do.