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MEX VMC - Back on, and online!
djellison
post Aug 22 2008, 01:58 PM
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I heard about this 24 hours ago, and couldn't believe it - this is EXACTLY what has been missing from ESA. MASSIVE kudos to the ESOC MEX flight ops team for doing it

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/VMC/index.html

The last time I wrote a post and hit 'submit' at UMSF with a smile this big on my face, was when Oppy successfully got out of Purgatory.
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ormstont
post Sep 5 2008, 05:53 PM
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Just to put my two cents in, you're right that the "object" fades a lot towards the end of the observation. It could well be that we're seeing something like the face on Mars - just a combination of light and shadow that looks like something we want to see. Nonetheless there aren't any major features I can see on the Mars map that would give rise to such a large flare/shadow. In ustrax's plot the crater identified is (I believe from looking at the Celestia file) Copernicus.

Using Ian Musgrave's Registax techniques he describes here http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2008/08/w...-over-mars.html, combined with ugordon's colour processing script, I wonder if it's possible to clean up the image and see if we can place it more precisely on a map of Mars. Would be great to see what more it could teach us!

P.S. Top theories so far include trick of the light, cloud or (a long shot, but a cool one) an impact event plume...


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ustrax
post Sep 6 2008, 10:12 AM
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dear Ormstont, I am sorry to be a bit limited in terms of software for the moment but if that carter is indeed Copernicus then, looking at Google Mars, I see a bright patch to the right of the crater (marked) that could be the "culprit"...assuming that I am getting the right orientation and scale... wink.gif
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ugordan
post Sep 6 2008, 07:02 PM
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It definitely appears to be atmospheric as the shadow moves below it (click to enlarge):


It seems to have dissipated at the end. Based on the rough 100 km size estimate I get a height in excess of 100 km (around 110 km, but the uncertainty is rather large) if my back-of-the-envelope calculation is right using this 3x magnified bit:


If it's an ordinary cloud, what would make it so circular at that altitude and would it dissipate quickly in sunlight? If it's an impact plume, wouldn't we expect a darker color and much lower and more persistent plume?


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siravan
post Sep 6 2008, 11:08 PM
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QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 6 2008, 02:02 PM) *
Based on the rough 100 km size estimate I get a height in excess of 100 km (around 110 km, but the uncertainty is rather large) if my back-of-the-envelope calculation is right using this 3x magnified bit:


How do you calculate the height? My back-of-envelop calculation based on the ratio and of the shadow to the object size and its distance from the object is more consistent with an altitude half the object size (50 km if the diameter is 100 km).
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ugordan
post Sep 6 2008, 11:39 PM
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Yep, it appears I messed up the calculation of (at least) illumination incidence angle using the shadow shape, I did an inverse tangent of a/b instead of inverse cosine of b/a. That, by itself, lowers the end result to some 80-ish km, which might still be wrong. 110 km was no doubt suspicious, being at upper fringes of the atmosphere.


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Posts in this topic
- djellison   MEX VMC - Back on, and online!   Aug 22 2008, 01:58 PM
- - djellison   FWIW - I've attempted to debayer a tiny piece ...   Aug 22 2008, 02:57 PM
- - djellison   I THINK I got a bit cleverer in making selections ...   Aug 22 2008, 03:20 PM
|- - ugordan   Wow, great work, Doug. My method of making a Bayer...   Aug 22 2008, 03:25 PM
|- - Tman   QUOTE (ugordan @ Aug 22 2008, 05:25 PM) H...   Aug 22 2008, 03:46 PM
- - Stu   ESA often get a hard time here for what they do - ...   Aug 22 2008, 03:23 PM
- - PDP8E   I always though that the Lunar Prospector team was...   Aug 22 2008, 03:24 PM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (PDP8E @ Aug 22 2008, 04:24 PM) I a...   Aug 22 2008, 03:32 PM
- - djellison   Oh boy oh boy http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multi...   Aug 22 2008, 04:06 PM
|- - ugordan   I'm gonna give it a go at writing an app for a...   Aug 22 2008, 04:10 PM
|- - Juramike   Even better, it looks like they'd like submiss...   Aug 22 2008, 04:37 PM
|- - tedstryk   QUOTE (Juramike @ Aug 22 2008, 04:37 PM) ...   Aug 22 2008, 06:45 PM
|- - ugordan   Nice catch, Tman! Looks like clouds to me, rot...   Aug 22 2008, 07:06 PM
- - Paolo Amoroso   Does the Picasa logo on VMC images imply that they...   Aug 22 2008, 04:42 PM
|- - ugordan   I've got a basic app going, it performs a rudi...   Aug 22 2008, 06:00 PM
||- - djellison   QUOTE (ugordan @ Aug 22 2008, 07:00 PM) W...   Aug 22 2008, 08:31 PM
||- - ugordan   To be honest, coding that particular bit was easy....   Aug 22 2008, 09:34 PM
||- - slinted   Kudos to the ESA and MEX teams! This is an ex...   Aug 22 2008, 11:44 PM
|- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (Paolo Amoroso @ Aug 22 2008, 06:42...   Aug 22 2008, 06:33 PM
- - Tman   Very nice Gordan! What could that illuminated...   Aug 22 2008, 06:27 PM
- - Paolo Amoroso   Are you able to use the Celestia scripts? I downlo...   Aug 22 2008, 06:36 PM
|- - Astro0   QUOTE (Paolo Amoroso @ Aug 23 2008, 04:36...   Aug 23 2008, 03:57 AM
|- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (Astro0 @ Aug 23 2008, 05:57 AM) I ...   Aug 23 2008, 12:27 PM
|- - ugordan   A dodgy first version of the tool: It takes an in...   Aug 23 2008, 02:26 PM
|- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (Paolo Amoroso @ Aug 23 2008, 02:27...   Aug 23 2008, 02:34 PM
|- - Astro0   Paolo, see if you can download Celestia 1.5.0. It ...   Aug 23 2008, 11:32 PM
|- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (Astro0 @ Aug 24 2008, 01:32 AM) Pa...   Aug 24 2008, 02:35 PM
- - Stu   Hmmm... why do the words "Kids", "n...   Aug 22 2008, 09:45 PM
- - djellison   I was thinking 'pig' and err...'poo...   Aug 22 2008, 10:00 PM
- - jekbradbury   For those who would rather not manually run each o...   Aug 24 2008, 02:28 AM
- - Tman   The VMC public gallery has opened http://www.esa.i...   Aug 26 2008, 07:16 PM
- - Stu   In advance of him joining UMSF I've been asked...   Aug 27 2008, 04:13 PM
- - ormstont   Thanks to Stu for passing on the message, I'm ...   Aug 27 2008, 07:18 PM
|- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (ormstont @ Aug 27 2008, 09:18 PM) ...   Aug 28 2008, 11:29 AM
- - imipak   I'm only an "armchair UMSFer", with ...   Aug 27 2008, 09:10 PM
- - Juramike   Here is an GIF animation I made from a sequence of...   Aug 28 2008, 04:57 AM
- - ormstont   Phobos and Deimos would both be fun targets, the b...   Aug 28 2008, 02:15 PM
- - chiron   Hi everybody I worked the last days on a program ...   Aug 29 2008, 11:07 AM
|- - tedstryk   I had a go at the July 29, 2008 dataset. Man, thi...   Aug 29 2008, 02:03 PM
- - ormstont   Tough stuff to work with indeed makes it all the ...   Aug 29 2008, 05:41 PM
|- - tedstryk   Thanks! I am headed out on vacation, but I wi...   Aug 29 2008, 06:42 PM
- - Juramike   Assembled mosaic from June 22, 2008 series of imag...   Aug 30 2008, 02:24 AM
- - Juramike   Handy little guide and detailed explanation of the...   Aug 30 2008, 03:56 AM
- - JTN   QUOTE (Juramike @ Aug 30 2008, 04:56 AM) ...   Aug 30 2008, 04:15 PM
- - Paolo Amoroso   It would be useful for the VMC site to have an RSS...   Aug 31 2008, 01:49 PM
- - ormstont   Sorry for being a bit quiet - as you can probably ...   Sep 4 2008, 03:56 PM
|- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (ormstont @ Sep 4 2008, 05:56 PM) I...   Sep 5 2008, 03:11 PM
- - Stu   re your "mystery object"... Perhaps...?   Sep 4 2008, 06:43 PM
- - ormstont   Definitely hoping for Martians (then we'd have...   Sep 5 2008, 11:26 AM
- - ormstont   Ok...image gallery is online on the website, along...   Sep 5 2008, 02:54 PM
- - djellison   That is unusual. At first I thought it might be a...   Sep 5 2008, 03:10 PM
- - Stu   I may be wrong (probably am) but think this might ...   Sep 5 2008, 03:17 PM
- - remcook   cool, looks like a volcano eruption it's not ...   Sep 5 2008, 03:40 PM
|- - ustrax   I've been far away for so long that I've b...   Sep 5 2008, 03:55 PM
|- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (ustrax @ Sep 5 2008, 05:55 PM) [.....   Sep 5 2008, 04:09 PM
|- - ustrax   In this specific image it looks to me that the sha...   Sep 5 2008, 05:02 PM
- - Stu   How about a meteoroid impact that sent up a big du...   Sep 5 2008, 03:57 PM
|- - ustrax   I'm here... This is what I mean: Looks to...   Sep 5 2008, 04:06 PM
- - ormstont   Just to put my two cents in, you're right that...   Sep 5 2008, 05:53 PM
|- - ustrax   dear Ormstont, I am sorry to be a bit limited in t...   Sep 6 2008, 10:12 AM
|- - ugordan   It definitely appears to be atmospheric as the sha...   Sep 6 2008, 07:02 PM
|- - Juramike   Nice animation, Gordan! As you've shown, ...   Sep 6 2008, 07:40 PM
|- - ustrax   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 6 2008, 08:02 PM) It...   Sep 6 2008, 08:11 PM
||- - ugordan   QUOTE (ustrax @ Sep 6 2008, 10:11 PM) the...   Sep 6 2008, 08:43 PM
||- - TheChemist   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 6 2008, 11:43 PM) Yo...   Sep 6 2008, 08:47 PM
||- - ustrax   QUOTE (TheChemist @ Sep 6 2008, 09:47 PM)...   Sep 6 2008, 09:21 PM
||- - ugordan   QUOTE (ustrax @ Sep 6 2008, 11:21 PM) Now...   Sep 6 2008, 09:23 PM
||- - ustrax   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 6 2008, 10:23 PM) Co...   Sep 6 2008, 09:27 PM
|- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 6 2008, 09:02 PM) It...   Sep 6 2008, 08:12 PM
||- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (Paolo Amoroso @ Sep 6 2008, 10:12 ...   Sep 7 2008, 02:40 PM
||- - ugordan   Here's a new version of VMC2RGB, this time imp...   Sep 8 2008, 09:50 PM
|- - siravan   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 6 2008, 02:02 PM) Ba...   Sep 6 2008, 11:08 PM
|- - ugordan   Yep, it appears I messed up the calculation of (at...   Sep 6 2008, 11:39 PM
- - stevesliva   Does fog cast a shadow? Would it be forming above...   Sep 8 2008, 10:18 PM
- - ormstont   Ok...more info on our strange cloud...we've go...   Sep 11 2008, 10:08 AM
- - remcook   yes, I think 80 km is a normal altitude for these ...   Sep 11 2008, 11:41 AM
- - ormstont   Wow...you beat me to posting the link I've ju...   Sep 11 2008, 01:45 PM
- - elakdawalla   I'd like to include one of the VMC crescent im...   Sep 12 2008, 09:38 PM
|- - ugordan   All 2008 crescents indeed appear to be severely ov...   Sep 12 2008, 11:36 PM
- - ormstont   So, looks like our other MEX instrument teams are ...   Sep 13 2008, 07:20 PM
|- - ugordan   I'd be interested in knowing what the difficul...   Sep 13 2008, 07:24 PM
- - ormstont   Well, part of the difficulty is that we have no wa...   Sep 13 2008, 08:23 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (ormstont @ Sep 13 2008, 10:23 PM) ...   Sep 13 2008, 08:41 PM
|- - Tman   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 13 2008, 10:41 PM) A...   Sep 13 2008, 10:27 PM
|- - Paolo Amoroso   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 13 2008, 10:41 PM) I...   Sep 14 2008, 09:54 AM
- - ormstont   Ok, get what you're going for there - the only...   Sep 14 2008, 11:21 AM
|- - ugordan   I don't personally think a dark frame would be...   Sep 14 2008, 05:43 PM
- - jekbradbury   I am trying to organize the images by position in ...   Sep 14 2008, 08:57 PM
- - ormstont   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 14 2008, 07:43 PM) T...   Sep 15 2008, 08:06 AM
- - jekbradbury   That was exactly what I was looking for. Taking i...   Sep 16 2008, 01:56 AM
- - Juramike   I finally downloaded Celestia (slaps head, why did...   Sep 16 2008, 04:21 AM
- - Juramike   Interesting how both the "mystery cloud...   Sep 16 2008, 04:30 AM
- - ormstont   QUOTE (jekbradbury @ Sep 16 2008, 03:56 A...   Sep 16 2008, 08:12 AM
- - Juramike   It's baaaack! Another cloud sequence at s...   Sep 17 2008, 04:43 AM
- - ormstont   Interesting that we might have a cloud factory on ...   Sep 17 2008, 09:59 AM
- - ormstont   Just a quick plug - got some more lovely shots fro...   Sep 17 2008, 02:42 PM
- - Juramike   The thing that's been puzzling me is the appea...   Sep 17 2008, 02:51 PM
- - djellison   I love this camera.   Sep 17 2008, 03:07 PM
- - Juramike   Here is an attempted mosaic of the "relativel...   Sep 18 2008, 04:31 AM
- - Juramike   There are few guarantees in life... but finding cl...   Sep 20 2008, 04:01 AM
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