Mashup of 3 images: full frame image coordinated to global mosaic, overlain by a warped false color view of IR data (?) PIA14325:



Full resolution on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/6000679166/

Gladstoner you read my mind.


I can't wait to see close ups of that crater.

I was excited when I first saw that too until I decomposed the animation and realized that it is in fact an artifact -- a bit of dust somewhere or something. Here's a teeny window on that little "Tsiolkovskiy" -- it doesn't move as Vesta rotates beneath it. There's a few other black specks that don't move from frame to frame.

Heh, I suppose the group of blemishes can be used to calibrate the cropped and blown-up images that are released to the media.

Man, you are really crafty!!!

A recording of the Vesta press conference can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJBcxfxNo-M...nel_video_title

and here
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/inde...;catid=1:latest

I shall call it the "Tsiolkovskiy Artifact"

And the next two largest specks can be "Grimaldi" and "Plato".

These are indeed artifacts present in the raw image. We can correct for most of them by using a flat field.

It won't work on Phobos, since the grooves on that body tail off on the trailing hemisphere.

It will be interesting to see the extent of these grooves on Vesta.

Here is a little article from the AP about Vesta

http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-stunned-s...-204550456.html

the last line has a 20th century kinda of feel to it:

....The team does not plan to post raw images online as other NASA missions have done. Instead, there will be just one picture released daily ....

Pablo, this community is nothing if not crafty.


I was very happy when Alicia (who has, several times, been nearly the only reporter besides me present onsite at Von Karman for a press briefing) asked that question, because I figured I'd worn out my welcome with such questions.

Don't worry about it Emily, I think we're just going to have to accept that we're not going to make the mission's Powers That Be change their minds. It's a great shame, but it seems that, unlike the MER team for example, some of them just don't get how much they're going to miss out on having a hugely-enthusiastic community of space enthusiasts and image manipulators on their side, working with their raw images to create exciting new products that would benefit them. I think it's a huge, huge mistake, I really do, and jaw-droppingly short-sighted in this modern age of data sharing and "citizen science" when we're all encouraged to be part of the space missions we follow so devoutly. I don't "feel a part of" DAWN, I feel like I've been told I can watch what's going on but only if I go stand over there, out of the way, and don't make a nuisance of myself.

I'm hugely supportive of the mission, and very grateful for every image we have been shown, but oh, it could be so, so much better than this. Oh well. Roll on MSL!

Don't give up; they may very well change their minds for Ceres.

I was hoping for some numbers (dimensions, mass, density) at the press conference to compare with the previous estimates based on very distant observations. Guess we'll have to wait awhile longer for those.