El Dorado, The place formerly known as Ultreya Options

[dot.dk]

Steve has a new update:
http://athena1.cornell.edu/news/mubss/

And it looks like the official name for the Ultreya Abyss now is "El Dorado"

I looked up El Dorado and the poem is actually quite fitting

by Edgar Allan Poe
(1849)

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

[CosmicRocker]

The shadow of Husband Hill is what makes the difference this time, IMHO.
(This is just a wild guess, I have no hard numbers to prove it, like sun angles etc...)

Interesting thought... I wouldn't want to make too much out of a reference in a poem, but the explorer did meet a shadow, did he not? Maybe it's the shadow of the hill, or maybe it's a generalized shadow of winter.

*****************

Steve's recent "quick" update was interesting. Just a few days after saying they were heading for Home Plate, he says it's either Allegheny or El Dorado. Is Allegheny ridge that linear ridge with the mesas, trailing away from Home Plate? If they climb that, they would have good views of El Dorado and Home Plate, wouldn't they? And Home Plate would then be on a line between there and McCool Hill. Maybe Home Plate is not written off just yet. At least, I hope not.

Quoting SS:
"Once we've done our work at Comanche, then we have a really important decision to make. We need to keep moving quickly if we're going to get to McCool Hill and its sunny north-facing slopes by winter. We have two very enticing targets ahead of us after Comanche, and we've got to pick one of the two... there isn't time for both. One is a ridge off to the southeast that we've named Allegheny Ridge. The other is a large patch of dark sand off to the southwest that (with some inspiration from Edgar Alan Poe) we've named El Dorado. We'll get to Comanche, take pictures of both, and then pick one of the two... probably sometime next week. The seasons are changing rapidly at Gusev, and time is of the essence."

They have been moving forward at a pretty good pace, since descending Haskin's. I would have thought there would be time to go for a Home Run and still make it to the dugout before winter. Comanche looks pretty different. Gotta stop to thwack it. It sounds like they want to get well up onto McCool Hill before winter.

[general]

Steve's recent "quick" update was interesting.  Just a few days after saying they were heading for Home Plate, he says it's either Allegheny or El Dorado.  Is Allegheny ridge that linear ridge with the mesas, trailing away from Home Plate?  If they climb that, they would have good views of El Dorado and Home Plate, wouldn't they?  And Home Plate would then be on a line between there and McCool Hill.  Maybe Home Plate is not written off just yet.  At least, I hope not.

According to the latest Spirit traverse maps (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit/index.html), Allegheny Ridge is located halfway between Spirit's present location and Home Plate:

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