Late 'night' Phoenix Observations. |
Late 'night' Phoenix Observations. |
Jul 12 2008, 08:55 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 47 Joined: 27-June 08 From: Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. Member No.: 4244 |
Hi everyone.
Phoenix on Sol 46 have returned images of the Sun above the Northern Horizon, just before midnight. Sun 11:14 PM local time. Sun 11:16 PM local time. Sun 11:26 PM local time. Andrew Brown. -------------------- "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.
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Sep 7 2008, 11:27 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 646 Joined: 23-December 05 From: Forest of Dean Member No.: 617 |
Nice image, 3488. The more time passes, the more the spotty leg puzzles me. I've not seen any suggested mechanisms that account for three key features (as I remember them, happy to be corrected!):
1. The phenomena is only apparent on one leg, of three; 2. The "spots" were apparent in the first post-landing images, but their apparent size and density increased in the first couple of weeks on the surface; 3. The existing lumps don't appear to have continued growing as the sun sinks lower in the sky and (presumably) local surface temperatures decrease; they reached their current state and stopped. Dust and soil blown around at landing time, perhaps with a thin melted surface film of water, was been the proposed mechanism that most appealed to me, but it doesn't seem to account for points (1) and (2). What have I missed? -------------------- --
Viva software libre! |
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Sep 7 2008, 03:24 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
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Sep 7 2008, 06:30 PM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 150 Joined: 3-June 08 From: McLean, VA Member No.: 4177 |
I think the interference between the jet plumes and the surface being not homogenous might have made the dust spray in an interesting fashion. It's neat the way the dust piles up in drifts on the boundaries of the "competing" plumes and I wonder if there might not have been some of the spray that got kicked up that little hill, into the underside/radar of the lander, then fell back on that leg strut. Still wonder if the stuff was sticky 'cause it got heated by the jets, somewhat like the RAC's rasping friction heat, and has stayed stuck.
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