Marathon Valley, Sol 4078-4481 (July 15, 2015 - September 1, 2016) Options

[fredk]

It looks like we had a pretty good drive on 4078 roughly to the east (or NE) and now have a better view down into Marathon Valley:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol4078
(Yes, we are still paying attention, Oppy!)

[SteveM]

At first glance the sand in Marathon Valley looks treacherous.

[Floyd]

It looks like we had a pretty good drive on 4078 roughly to the east (or NE) and now have a better view down into Marathon Valley: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol4078 (Yes, we are still paying attention, Oppy!)

There is a black rock in the left foreground that looks just like an oil glob on a sandy beach (ie Santa Barbara, California). No problem if it is oil, NASA recently demonstrated the ability to identify oil globs by plane or satellite spectral imaging :-).

[atomoid]

...though not collected in a depression, but randomly astrewn as if a blob of lava or obsidian tossed down from SSL..

[nprev]

My first guess would be a stony meteorite with a nice thick fusion crust. Odd looking thing.

Could be quite fresh if that's what it is.

[jvandriel]

First Panoramic view into Marathon Valley with the Left Navcam on Sol 4078.

Jan van Driel

[Cruzeiro do Sul]

One more wonderful panorama Jan. It remember me when we came from volcanoes in Chile and you come down to the Atacama Plateau. Very peaceful and quiet.

And by the way, you put Sol "1048" in the panorama. Did we come back in time?

[fredk]

Lovely view openning up after the 4079 drive to the east:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol4079
I think we're seeing Argos along the right edge of that frame, and the large light-toned ridge above centre is the feature to the lower left of the "Marathon Valley" label in Phil's map.

[jvandriel]

Cruzeiro do Sul
you are right. I missed that completely.
Here is the correct one, especially for you.

Jan van Driel

[jvandriel]

and the Navcam L view on Sol 4079.

Jan van Driel

[brellis]

This view needs an Ennio Morricone theme! Thanks all for the disseminating and image processing.

[algorithm]

NavCam anaglyph from Sol 4081, into the valley indeed. It's like looking across the sands into 'The Wash' in North Norfolk, only I can't tell if the tide is going out or coming in.

Here is a nice calm soundtrack to take us into this tranquill looking valley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXVhh7TKgcA (Listen to the soundtrack while looking at the view)

[algorithm]

Hope you didn't have the volume too high!

A PanCam RGB

[HughFromAlice]

Version 2 of Nav Cams 4079.... a bit better. I didn't like my first version! ……Hᴜɢʜ….ツ

[jamescanvin]

Some Pancams from 4082 looking up at the steep rocky north edge of Marathon Valley.



James

[algorithm]

A difficult escape from a bunker into Marathon Valley, here on day three of 'The Open' (Or Sol 4082 for non golfists)

[jvandriel]

Navcam L0 view on Sol 4081.

Jan van Driel

[atomoid]

Here's to hoping the team considers the scientific value of nudging a candidate boulder on its way down the slope!

[jamescanvin]

More images for the pan of the North Wall on sol 4083:

[climber]

It looks like a windy place. We will probably have some solar panel cleaning soon...

[algorithm]

If they decide to try atomoids' suggestion (#18) it won't be the solar panels that need cleaning, it will be the seating panels back here on Earth!

[Cruzeiro do Sul]

Cruzeiro do Sul
you are right. I missed that completely.
Here is the correct one, especially for you.

Jan van Driel

Thanks Jan and sorry for my very poor English, but it's not my first language...by far, but i have to say that your work (and those of others members of this forum) with these Mars images amaze me and i am so grateful for that.

[HughFromAlice]

I've had the morning off work because of a bad cold so I thought I'd relax and take up the challenge of making a colourized pic of out the NavCams of Sol 4081.……Hᴜɢʜ….ツ

[jvandriel]

Added 1 image ( Right one, Sol 4082 ) to the Sol 4081 view.

Jan van Driel

[atomoid]

sloppy anglyph looking down the smectite valley sol4086

[eliBonora]

another view of sol 4083

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 4086.

Jan van Driel

[jvandriel]

and in Stereo.

Jan van Driel

[jvandriel]

The Navcam R0 panoramic view taken on Sol 4086 and Sol 4087.

Jan van Driel

[jamescanvin]

Late afternoon in Marathon Valley, nice.

[Seryddwr]

Wow. That is stunning.

[algorithm]

A nice view out onto the crater floor from our position on Sol 4090

[jamescanvin]

It mosaics with another frame from 4087:

[charborob]

Sol 4092 pancam view:

[jamescanvin]

My version of the 4092 rock survey:

[jamescanvin]

Microscopic Imager mosaic of the brushed spot.

[fredk]

Tentative plan for the explortion of Marathon Valley, from the latest PS update:

From Private Reubin Field, Opportunity will loop around Marathon Valley on her walkabout. "We have about five stops identified along the north rim, before we circle around to the southern part of Marathon Valley where we see north-facing slopes that will improve our power by the time winter comes," said Golombek.

[Burmese]

They should call that view of the rocks on the slope "Rush Hour at Marathon Valley" - nothing is moving but you sure get a sense of movement.

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 4096.

Jan van Driel

[jvandriel]

The Pancam L2 view on Sol 4087-Sol 4092.

Jan van Driel

[SFJCody]

Very filmic this spot. Someone should shoot a western here.

[climber]

Very filmic this spot. Someone should shoot a western here.

Marathon Monument + Marathon Valley = Monument Valley.
So, you're mathematicaly correct

[charborob]

Sol 4104 L pancam view. Gives you an idea of the steepness of the slope.
(I leave it to more talented people to produce the color image.)

[algorithm]

Here's that slope again.








(I'll leave it to more talented people to make a better job of it)

[algorithm]

And as a quick anaglyph

[ngunn]

Oops - I thought the previous one was an anaglyph because it has coloured fringes on the skyline. Anyway both are much appreciated.

[algorithm]

Now that's exactly what I meant by somebody else making a better job of it!!

[algorithm]

PanCam views of the other wall (North facing I believe) of Marathon valley on Sol 4108

[algorithm]

And as an anaglyph.

[ngunn]

Very nice! Can anyone shed light on whether these are depositional layers, parallel erosion surfaces or something else?

[eliBonora]

Mosaic sol 1408



and HazCam in color, left and right, sol 4107 (using the variations of light as filters)

[vikingmars]

Mosaic sol 1408

WOW ! Thanks a lot eliBonora for sharing this nice work of yours !

[atomoid]

yes nice treatment! the parellel slightly exceeds my interpupilary distance on my monitor, making that one challenging but i am finding that its indeed possible to train the eyes to diverge unnaturally. Here are a crosseye and anaglyph of the brushing (09 CCW rotated).

[atomoid]

sol4117 marathon boulders at dusk

[fredk]

It looks like we may be heading into those boulders next, according to Crumpler's blog.

[atomoid]

..Crumpler curiously calls them "dark float rocks", or perhaps that's just a parcel of geologic nomenclature.. i'm inferring they haven't yet definitively spotted smectite from pancam data and are relying on low res orbital data and best hunches to pick the prospective targets to get a profile.. here's Larry's rendering in native resolution:

[elakdawalla]

"Float" is a term for rocks that have broken from their source rock, so they're no longer in place; they lack context (except that they probably originated upslope). Geologists prefer to analyze bedrock rather than float when they can, but the rovers are often forced to look at float rocks rather than outcrop higher up because of terrain trafficability issues. What they do try to do is find float that hasn't traveled far, where you can see the scar that it left behind on the outcrop so you be reasonably sure you know its initial position and orientation.

[centsworth_II]

I was surprised to see that the area of smectite detection by CRISM shown in Crumpler's blog encompasses the floor of the valley almost to the exclusion of the bordering layers of bedrock. But maybe the resolution is such that a distinction cannot be made and the outline around the valley floor is misleading if taken as a hard fact.

[ngunn]

Larry Crumpler's field reports are always very informative but this one excels in the amount of information in the illustrations. We even have the angles of dip in the foliations within the rocks in view. Foliation, if I'm not msitaken, is a word for layers in rocks where it seems unlikely that they're sedimentary layers.

[Floyd]

Opportunity is still alive and exploring Marathon Valley. Seems like UMSF has sort of ignored her for the past two weeks.

The monthly report by A.J.S. Rayl came out 9/3 Link

[atomoid]

there are some interesting MI images coming down tosol having apparent views of left right and left right, that when rotated 90CW work as stereo

[jamescanvin]

Just been catching up on what Oppy was up to while I was on holiday. Here is the view of the Northwest wall from a week or two back.

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 4132-4137.

Jan van Driel

[algorithm]

From above, Sols 4132,34,37,38 but extended left a bit. Not the greatest quality, but heh!!

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L panorama stitched together from images taken on Sol 4132-4138.
Almost complete. With a little gap.

Jan van Driel

[jamescanvin]

Mosaic looking downhill at the floor of Marathon Valley from 4140:

[jamescanvin]

A great look across Endeavour Crater which just about overlaps with the mosaic of Marathon Valley floor from a couple of sols back.

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L view on Sol 4144.

Jan van Driel

[jvandriel]

added 1 image to the Sol 4144 L0 panorama.

Jan van Driel

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L view on Sol 4146.

Jan van Driel

[Phil Stooke]

This is part of the valley floor mosaic I'm working on. Control is from HiRISE, details from reprojected panoramas. You get a sense of the complicated patterns in the bedrock here. This covers all the recent activities over sols 4081-4152.

Phil

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L 0 panoramic view on Sol 4147-4149.

Jan van Driel

[jvandriel]

and the Navcam L0 view on Sol 4153.

Jan van Driel

[Phil Stooke]

This is a circular view - a bit distorted by the slope and my efforts to overcome that - of Jan's pan from sols 4147-4149. The pattern of outcrops shows up quite well.

Phil

[jvandriel]

and the L0 panoramic view ( 9 images ) on Sol 4155.

Jan van Driel

[atomoid]

nice view sol4159 cant resist a couple anaglyphs

[jamescanvin]

Some nice Pancams from the last couple of sols.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[jvandriel]

The Navcam R0 view on Sol 4158.

Jan van Driel

[jvandriel]

and the Navcam L0 view on Sol 4159 and 4161 stitched together.

Jan van Driel

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 4167.

Jan van Driel

[jamescanvin]

Pancam mosaic looking back uphill.

[nprev]

MOD NOTE: 10 posts directly or indirectly related to politics--including mine--removed in accordance with rule 1.2.

We're just not gonna do this.

[algorithm]

That's a shame, those ten posts were filling in a three day image gap !

[atomoid]

ok then, heres something new: sol4175 MIs have just enough overlap to do a parellel stereo

[eliBonora]

Sol 4136



Sol 4144

[charborob]

Sols 4282-4183 LPancam view:

(horizon left crooked on purpose)

[jamescanvin]

Realised that I hadn't posted my version of that here.



Horizon made flat on purpose.

[James Sorenson]

Wonderful as always James

I haven't made a mosaic in awhile from Oppy, here is my version.

[vikingmars]

Wonderful as always James
I haven't made a mosaic in awhile from Oppy, here is my version.

Very nice, James. Thanks a lot !

[James Sorenson]

Whats down from Sol-4154.

[James Sorenson]

My version of the Sol 4140-4141 Mosaic.

[Explorer1]

Fantastic work James! Awe-inspiring....

[James Sorenson]

Thank you.

Sol 4098-4122

[vikingmars]

Thank you. Sol 4098-4122

How NICE James !
Thanks so much for sharing this nice work with us

[charborob]

Opportunity moved on sol 4200. Notice the shadow of the rim on the crater floor on this image.

[Phil Stooke]

Yes! I don't remember seeing a shadow before. Maybe there have been images which I just overlooked.

Phil

[fredk]

There was sol 2847 with some lovely views such as this one, which shows an "opposition surge" at the anti-solar point:
http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/all/1/p/2...43P2445L2M1.JPG
There were some lovely colour mosaics made, see the old thread starting around here.

I agree the new 4200 navcams are stunning. And I suspect we can see the opposition surge again in this frame:
http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/all/1/n/4...OZP1685R0M1.JPG
though someone should check the azimuths.

[atomoid]

i really liked the ones in shadow from sol4200 but sol4201 are even better. ICE chokes horribly on the righthand R image for some reason, so here's anaglyph of the other two pairs

"opposition surge", so thats what its called, thanks.. i've noticed this interesting effect quite a bit carpooling when one can actually get a chance to stare at at landscapes on low-angle sunny mornings, its especially apparent in iceplant type vegetation, i thought the effect aside from shadow hiding was just a prismatic reflection in plant epidermal cells but perhaps thats implicit as an aspect of the wiki's very brief coherent backscatter explanation.

[jamescanvin]

Speaking of shadows, note the one on the left here.

http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/im...ZP1211L0M1.html

[Astro0]

A little gif of the scene change at Marathon Valley as the shadows creep.