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Posted by: gndonald Jul 20 2005, 02:02 AM

This is my first post on this forum, so I thought I'd try and make it interesting

I own a book entitled "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Exploration" (Richard S Lewis, Salamander Books, 1983). It is a 'coffee table' history of space exploration up to that point.

One picture on page 203 is . It is an image of the north temperate region of Jupiter allegedly taken by Pioneer 10.

What the picture also shows is what appears to be a 'spacecraft' flying across the image from upper left to upper right leaving a bluish exhaust trail.

I had planned to include a scan of the image, but my scanner is kaput, so the directions will have to suffice.

First, has anyone else seen the picture in question?

Second, does anyone have any idea what might have produced this picture (other than a 'spacecraft')?

Is there a Pioneer Image archive?

Posted by: BruceMoomaw Jul 20 2005, 07:29 AM

I need to take a look at the book -- but this has GOT to be either an electronic flaw in the picture itself, or a simple printing error on that page. Rest assured that if anything that peculiar-looking and real had shown up on any of the Pioneer photos, we would have heard about it by now.

Posted by: gndonald Jul 20 2005, 07:54 AM

I'm inclining towards that interpretation myself. There is one other image in the book in the Jupiter section which is described as a computer manipulation of several Voyager images to get a 'pole down' (or up) view of Jupiter.

I had a look at the Pioneer Jupiter images in the online copy of Pioneer Odyssey, there are three possible candidates for the image in the book. (http://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/p151.htm, http://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/p152.htm and http://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/p153.htm.) I'm beginning to suspect that these images were 'stiched' together to make the image shown on page 203 and that the 'spacecraft' was added at that time, I'm going to check the picture credits in the book.

Posted by: edstrick Jul 20 2005, 08:00 AM

*Anyway, it would have been physically impossible for Pioneer to take a picture of an object moving at all rapidly between the spacecraft and jupiter. Pictures were scanned one pixel at a time by the rotation of the spacecraft and the stepping of the 1-inch "telescope" one pixel per rotation, and built up over 10 min to 1/2 hour.

Posted by: gndonald Jul 20 2005, 10:38 AM

This is an update to my earlier post, which I sent without having a copy of the book to hand.

The computer manipulated image of the polar clouds of Jupiter is on page 213 of the edition I have.

After carefully comparing the picture on page 203 with the most likely of the images in Pioneer Odyssey I think that the http://p152 image is the best match, but I still cannot link the image to a specific picture.

Checking the image credits at the back of the book indicates that the picture in question is credited to NASA.

The more I look at the image I cannot shake the suspicion that someone added the 'spacecraft' to the image, but without being able to match the picture to a published image I will not say this for certain.

Ed, you're also right, there is no way that Pioneer could have captured the image in question.

Posted by: tedstryk Jul 20 2005, 12:33 PM

Might it be one of the moons with the blue channel image not properly aligned?

Posted by: gndonald Jul 20 2005, 04:22 PM

No, firstly the rest of the image is properly aligned. Second the object looks like someone has added a 'rocketship' to the picture.

I'm going to visit a net cafe with a scanner tomorrow and try and get an image to post to the forum.

Posted by: gndonald Jul 21 2005, 12:49 PM

I've been to a net cafe that had a scanner and had a copy made of the image in question.

I've attached it to this post so it can be studied by those who have been unable to locate a copy of the book.

Posted by: djellison Jul 21 2005, 01:49 PM

Looks like it's much higher resolution that the actual image in question, and thus could well be an artifact introduced while printing the book?

ODug

Posted by: TheChemist Jul 21 2005, 02:33 PM

What kind of image is this, could it maybe a drawing ?
Jupiter appears as an "hexagonal" network of red and yellow colors (much like C-60, a fullerene )
The rocket is clearly added afterwards, maybe this was a joke for the book editor ?

Posted by: um3k Jul 21 2005, 02:36 PM

That is an artifact of the scanning (presumably).

Posted by: tedstryk Jul 21 2005, 02:37 PM

It is definitely not an original part of the image. It is out of sync with the IPP scan lines, so instrument noise is out of the question. It is either something drawn in or a defect in the book printing.

Posted by: Jeff7 Jul 21 2005, 03:25 PM

Artifact of the printing, actually. Look really close at newsprint pictures sometime.

The effect there can be eliminated by use of a "moire removal filter."

Posted by: Chmee Jul 21 2005, 03:27 PM

It appears to me the author or illustrator of the book had a little fun and drew in the image of the spacecraft.

Posted by: ljk4-1 Jul 21 2005, 03:29 PM

I think this is how the Mars Face got its start.

Posted by: gndonald Jul 21 2005, 03:49 PM

The hexagonal effect on the image of Jupiter is indeed a result of the scanning process, sadly the resolution settings were in the hands of the person who owned the net cafe and not myself.

However the 'rocketship' in the upper left is, sadly, not an artifact of the scanning process.

Posted by: JRehling Jul 21 2005, 04:22 PM

Note that three anomalies in the image are neatly parallel* to the top and bottom margins of the image: (A) The "spacecraft", ( its "exhaust", and a line, ©, rather like the "exhaust" that is closer to the top of the image. C is, like B, more prominent to the right, and gently fades to the left.

A and B both seem to amount to an overconcentration of lightness around a horizontal line. C seems to fit the bill, too. I wonder if all three aren't due to something happening to a hardcopy at some intermediate stage in an old printing process. For example, if the image was scanned (before publication of the book) from left to right, and grit in the scanner peeled off toner from the original image on two horizontal lines. In the case of C, the grit made its way fully across the image. In the case of B, the grit got fully wedged at position A, finally sticking and making a big mess there, but ending the track so that it doesn't cross the page fully. I've seen this kind of thing in other images, although they are rarer in the digital era.

* = B is not perfectly parallel with respect to the posted JPG, but is so within 2 pixels over a run of 100 pixels wide. This is probably with the ability of someone aligning a document on a flatbed scanner to put a book down neatly.

Posted by: tedstryk Jul 21 2005, 04:51 PM

I am referring to scanning by the imaging photopolarimeter on the Pioneer spacecraft, not the scanner you scanned the book with.

Posted by: um3k Jul 21 2005, 06:33 PM

I know that, silly! You don't see the moire effect with your eyes (in this situation), thus it is an artifact of the scanning.

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jul 21 2005, 08:25 PM

oDug:

That's *exactly* right! It's just a flaw on the printing plates.

oBb Shaw

Posted by: Decepticon Jul 27 2005, 12:07 PM

Looks like a UFO to me.

Posted by: ljk4-1 Jul 27 2005, 12:39 PM

Oh please - most UFOs are way beyond primitive fusion drives, which that vessel clearly is. It's just a test by the Deep Black Deep Space section of the US military.

I'm just waiting for the Mars Face crowd to take this image seriously as well.

Posted by: gndonald Jul 27 2005, 03:33 PM

I've always been surprised that this has, to my knowledge, never been promoted by any UFO/Aliens Are Among Us believer in any form.

Not even by Hoagland...

Posted by: ljk4-1 Jul 27 2005, 04:03 PM

In addition to the image being little known, unlike the Mars Face and other such ilk, an alleged spaceship ziopping past Jupiter cannot be "anchored" to like the MF, which stays in one spot on a reachable goal.

That's my conspiracy theory, anyway.

As cool as it may be to find an alien artifact in our celestial neighborhood, I think we should do a lot more searching in other reaches of the galaxy. Unless something has been planted somewhere in our neck of the cosmic woods to be deliberately found (such as a big black monolith in the lunar crater Tycho), any ETI probes studying us from nearby will no doubt be able to avoid our detection methods unless it wants to be found.

Posted by: JRehling Jul 27 2005, 04:28 PM

Well, then, I guess it fits within the topic of this site -- unmanned spaceflight.

Posted by: Decepticon Jul 28 2005, 01:11 PM

Is everyone wearing there belts to tight?! I was just kidding!

Posted by: jase Aug 1 2005, 11:26 AM

It's the nib and plastic tube holding the ink of a biro, which someone has used to point out a cloud feature on the original image

Posted by: Palomar Aug 27 2005, 02:46 PM

*Quite the joke.

Out of curiosity for the Pioneer 10 images (the legitimate ones that is), I searched Google .

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/ch9.htm

There are some beauts here; images I've not seen before (or if I have it's been a long time ago -- childhood) including at least two which appear to be looking down at Jupiter. Fan-tastic!

I'm combing through it for any reports of legit anomalies.

Posted by: tedstryk Aug 27 2005, 07:09 PM

That is a great book that NASA has put online. Unfortunately, the scans of the image are terribly low resolution. I have a print copy, and the currently online images do not compare.