MEX VMC - Back on, and online! |
MEX VMC - Back on, and online! |
Sep 4 2008, 03:56 PM
Post
#46
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 37 Joined: 27-August 08 From: Darmstadt, Germany Member No.: 4320 |
Sorry for being a bit quiet - as you can probably see from the ESA website we're going full steam ahead on the blog for the Rosetta Steins flyby tomorrow. Daniel who maintains the VMC website is hoping to get the latest images up soon. In particular you should take a look at the ones from the 29th August - there's something really strange on those pictures. Seems to be large (~100km is my rough calculation) and very bright, casting a dark shadow on the planet and the shadow is detached from the object. Doesn't seem to be anything on the map there so I'm puzzled...ideas on a postcard?!
P.S. Thanks for the idea for the RSS feed - we're definitely thinking of implementing that as soon as we can so you can get reminders of new images available. -------------------- |
|
|
Sep 4 2008, 06:43 PM
Post
#47
|
|
The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
-------------------- |
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 11:26 AM
Post
#48
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 37 Joined: 27-August 08 From: Darmstadt, Germany Member No.: 4320 |
Definitely hoping for Martians (then we'd have something to blame spacecraft anomalies on!) We're hoping to get the images up today...latest probably Monday - sorry to make you all wait!
-------------------- |
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 02:54 PM
Post
#49
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 37 Joined: 27-August 08 From: Darmstadt, Germany Member No.: 4320 |
Ok...image gallery is online on the website, along with a couple of public submissions from UMSF members (more to come I'm sure!). We've got some more standard image galleries from August and September still to put online but these will come next week after things with Rosetta have calmed down.
Really interested to see what you make of this object! -------------------- |
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 03:10 PM
Post
#50
|
|
Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
That is unusual. At first I thought it might be a moon/shadow issue, but that close to the terminator the geometry is totally wrong. It's so close to the terminator, that can't be very tall.
It's a nice challenge - I like it. |
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 03:11 PM
Post
#51
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 109 Joined: 20-January 07 From: Milano, ITALY Member No.: 1633 |
In particular you should take a look at the ones from the 29th August - there's something really strange on those pictures. Seems to be large (~100km is my rough calculation) and very bright, casting a dark shadow on the planet and the shadow is detached from the object. Doesn't seem to be anything on the map there so I'm puzzled...ideas on a postcard?! Any Phobos/Deimos solar eclipses at the time the images were taken? However, the images probably span a time interval a bit too long. Paolo Amoroso -------------------- Avventure Planetarie - Blog sulla comunicazione e divulgazione scientifica
|
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 03:17 PM
Post
#52
|
||
The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
I may be wrong (probably am) but think this might be the area...
More than prepared to be proved totally wrong! EDIT: hmmm, looking at other images in the new release batch I'm not so sure. Fun to try tho. -------------------- |
|
|
||
Sep 5 2008, 03:40 PM
Post
#53
|
|
Rover Driver Group: Members Posts: 1015 Joined: 4-March 04 Member No.: 47 |
cool, looks like a volcano eruption it's not a cloud?
what's the artifact right above it in Stu's image (near the limb, the rectangle thing...looks like a a line of a few pixel copied several times.) |
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 03:55 PM
Post
#54
|
|
Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
I've been far away for so long that I've become a sceptic...
Sorry but to me it looks like an optical illusion...no shadow casted by the apparent object, it looks to me like the shadow is from an elevation on the ground and the supposed "object" is a crater, you can see by going through the images that the shine varies and if you turn a picture 90º you loose that impression of something hovering over Mars... Hope I'm wrong... -------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 03:57 PM
Post
#55
|
|
The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
How about a meteoroid impact that sent up a big dust cloud? Unlikely, I know, but wouldn't that be cool?
(This is where someone from MRO, Odyssey or MEx butts in and says "Well, actually, we did see something but we weren't going to say anything yet..." ) EDIT: An "optical illusion"? Okay, where's the REAL Ustrax? What have you done with him?!?! -------------------- |
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 04:06 PM
Post
#56
|
||
Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
I'm here...
This is what I mean: Looks to me that the brightness of the crater on the right and what I call crater on the left looks, going through the images, the same from one to the other... But I may be taking too much Canydril... -------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
|
|
||
Sep 5 2008, 04:09 PM
Post
#57
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 109 Joined: 20-January 07 From: Milano, ITALY Member No.: 1633 |
[...] it looks to me like the shadow is from an elevation on the ground and the supposed "object" is a crater, you can see by going through the images that it's shine varies and if you turn a picture 90º you loose that impression of something hovering over Mars... Isn't the area too far from the terminator to have such a prominent shadow? Paolo Amoroso -------------------- Avventure Planetarie - Blog sulla comunicazione e divulgazione scientifica
|
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 05:02 PM
Post
#58
|
|
Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
In this specific image it looks to me that the shadow is derived from elevations on the terrain to the left and the "object" has fainted in a considerable way.
-------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
|
|
Sep 5 2008, 05:53 PM
Post
#59
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 37 Joined: 27-August 08 From: Darmstadt, Germany Member No.: 4320 |
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... -------------------- |
|
|
Sep 6 2008, 10:12 AM
Post
#60
|
||
Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
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...
-------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
|
|
||
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 27th September 2024 - 12:58 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |