When I was looking at the Hi-Rise of the Phoenix Lander on the surface I can see channels that look like small river channels. Did anyone else notice this ?

Channels ?

Maybe very large sub-surface cracks -- part of a fractal landscape with cracks and polygons of multiple size scales.

I believe these are channels in question. I only bracketed a few, there are a lot more visible if you look carefully.

It looks to me like you have diagrammed very large cracks bordering a very large polygon!

Interesting to revisit the images shown earlier in this thread (e.g. post 186 - upper image) that appear to show (as suggested) isolated areas of exposed ice, perhaps in natural trenches of some sort. They appear quite consistent with widespread subsurface ice and it's neat to see the ice showing itself occasionally like this.

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=114268

Also in post 195:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=114413

Steve

Found a neat video on the Photomodeler web site where they use the software to make 3D models from Phoenix stereo pairs. They do one of the lander legs and also a trench:

Photomodeler 3D reconstruction of Phoenix stereo pairs

Might want to be careful with that Photomodeler. It brought my PC (a middle of the road model) to its knees. But the little I was able to see of it was impressive.

Thanks for posting that, Joe. That is some very nifty software. Too bad it is so expensive. I'd like to get it, but I can't justify the expense.

Deliberate "self portrait" shadow shot or just coincidence? A simplistic color composite based on Phoenix SSI raw images, sol 030:



A lower Sun angle with longer shadows would be more spectacular, but without a wide-angle NAVCAM type lens the full shadow might even get too big to fit in a ISS field of view - at least for the entire spacecraft. Then with the need to take multiple images you get more of that color banding due to the shadows moving of course...

Airbag

[Edit: Titles have now been added to the sol 30 page, and this one is from a sequence called "1378-8: SSI Solstice Image", so no coincidence! This shadow is thus the shortest noon one.]

Nice.
Now try viewing that with 3D specs (reversed, with left eye blue) to see that shadow floating ABOVE the ground!

This is a trick I have used in our physics lab to make 3D shadow shows - illuminate objects with two colour spotlights side by side and view the cast shadows with 3D specs.

Cool! Even more bizarre is to use the glasses the "right way" around, then the shadow looks like it is at a the bottom of a shallow lake that has a "rocky" water surface.

Airbag

I think Percival Lowell did.

What are these for?
Looks like the lowest resolution possible of the horizon and the sky???
any guesses?


<sol 29, 30>

Look at Marks page - they are described as sky water observations. Solar filtered ( thus long exposure and noisy ) horizon obs.

Doug

BROTM (= Best Reply Of The Month)!