Pluto Surface Observations 1: NH Post-Encounter Phase, 1 Aug 2015- 10 Oct 2015 |
Pluto Surface Observations 1: NH Post-Encounter Phase, 1 Aug 2015- 10 Oct 2015 |
Aug 1 2015, 05:53 PM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
This topic will contain images & discussion of same as they arrive during the extended download period. Similar threads will be opened in coming months as required as acquired data & discussion proceeds.
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Aug 8 2015, 12:17 PM
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IMG to PNG GOD Group: Moderator Posts: 2254 Joined: 19-February 04 From: Near fire and ice Member No.: 38 |
I have been experimenting with generating DEMs of Pluto from stereo imagery, mainly to see if there are any large scale elevation differences (e.g. from subtle impact basins). The images available so far aren't exactly optimal for this and also my stereo match software is very sensitive to compression artifacts.
So far I have tried two stereo pairs: lor_0299174713_0x632_sci_5.jpg and lor_0299148167_0x632_sci_3.jpg lor_0299175145_0x632_sci_7.jpg and lor_0299148167_0x632_sci_3.jpg (again) These pairs are far fram optimal since the resolution of lor_0299148167_0x632_sci_3.jpg isn't high and the resolution difference between the images is large (differs by a factor of ~6). Sputnik Planum is also almost featureless in the lower-res image, making it difficult to find matching features. The resulting DEM is noisy and too ugly to post here but at least there is one possible result: Sputnik Planum is *probably* not a depression, its elevation is *probably* comparable to the elevation of the surrounding, dark terrain (if Sputnik Planum is despite this really a depression it would probably be a very gentle depression, much more so than big craters and basins on e.g. Rhea). But I want to emphasize the word "probably" in everything here - the DEM is noisy and of low quality. I also experimented with the lor_0299148167_0x632_sci_3.jpg / lor_0299124574_0x632_sci_1.jpg pair but without any useful results. The resolution is too low and compression artifacts mess things up. By the way, one of the most interesting features I noticed when I was doing the DEM work was this in image lor_0299174713_0x632_sci_5.jpg, slightly sharpened here: Here the stuff in Sputnik Planum has apparently been flowing into a crater. This reminds me of terrestrial glaciers - seeing higher-res images of Sputnik Planum's edge is going to be really interesting. Of course the vast majority of the really interesting (i.e. hi-res) images are still aboard the spacecraft. As interesting and exciting as everything has been so far, the real fun really doesn't start until September when downlinking of the imaging data starts. |
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