Based on the images of the MERs I think we are looking at Armchairs and Volkswagons (if I may coin a few new units of measure).

Hmmm. I can't believe the shadow of the camera mast was the width of an armchair, Dan'l, ... a basketball maybe...but I would have guessed a softball... or one of those midget footballs... at most two squash balls...

This is a very quick and crude attempt to put some sort of scale to the landing site images... if I'm way out here, and making a mistake somewhere then my apologies, but I wanted to have a try! I've kept the same scale throughout this process so, in theory, this should be "right", but if it isn't then I'm happy to be told so - and for someone else to have a go!

Ok, here's a HiRISE 1:1 view of Spitrit (circled) at Homeplate...



... and if you magnify Spirit x4 by clicking the "+" magnifying option you get this...



Now, here's a 1:1 view of a section of the HiRISE Phoenix image covering part of the landing elipse, which should be to the same scale as that Homeplate image...



... and zooming in on a part of that at x4 this is what we see...



So... judge for yourself... how big will Phoenix be on HiRISE images? Well, it's certainly quite a bit bigger than SPirit, so it should be easy to see I reckon... and it looks like that light-coloured "mound" in the centre of the circle in the x4 Phoenix lz image is roughly 3x as big as Spirit, perhaps a little larger...

Like I said, might be wrong here, but it's the best I can do with ten minutes to go before I have to be out the door and on my way to work.

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...ost&p=81794



My sims are unarguably too sharp - but they do represent the right sort of size object. For those easily confused - they're only sending one...not six to land in a circle (I had to say that about the mock version of the MPF presidential pan that has about a dozen sojourners on it once )

D

Later in that same thread you posted an altered version reflecting the programed East-West landing orientation:

Thanks Doug, I did remember you posting that, but someone asked about the scale of the features on the HiRISE images, so I was only using those crops to try and show how big local landscape and terrain features were, not how big Phoenix itself would be.

Just for fun, here's a version of that USGS base map (PIA09946), with only the "early in the window" ellipse drawn, and shifted (I think) about 13 km to the southeast. I left a sketch of the original ellipse in there, drawn with a finer line. Do I have this about right?

--Emily

Looking good, Emily!

Phil

More of me trying to get myself oriented...is this right?

--Emily

According to the output of the NASA Web :
The Phonix landing site is shown on the following image: It is about close to Emily's one.

I think you need to move a little bit to the East Emily.

This is probably a silly question, but I've not been able to find an answer elsewhere on the web. Does the Phoenix target area have a better name than "northern polar region"? What's the equivalent of 'Gusev Crater' or 'Meridiani Planum' for Phoenix?

I believe that the name of the entire north polar plains region is Vastias Borealis.

The very broad plain around the north pole is called Vastitas Borealis (Northern Plain, or Northern Waste). This specific area has a group of low hills forming the sides of "Green Valley". They are called Scandia Colles (Scandia Hills). The actual site, "Green Valley" is an informal name. Here's a map:

http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/mc1_mola.pdf

The site's at the left edge, about 10 o'clock.

Phil

Huum Scandia...it pleases me...