MECA (microscope) Images Options

[ahecht]

Unfortunately, the Optical Microscope (OM) images do not show up on the otherwise very useful Phoenix SSI raw images directory web pages so there is no obvious way to tell how many "different depth" OM images have been taken and/or downloaded so far

Give how easy it is to misidentify mircrosope images to those untrained in the art (as shown even in this thread), i'm sure they wouldn't release raw images until they had a chance to caption them. You wouldn't want a stray flourescent fiber from a laboratory Kimwipe sparking "Life Found on Mars" headlines.

[ugordan]

You wouldn't want a stray flourescent fiber from a laboratory Kimwipe sparking "Life Found on Mars" headlines.

By that token no raw images would ever be released because cosmic ray hits would inevitably be (and have been) interpreted as artificial objects in the distance, UFOs, etc.

[climber]

a bit out of focus?

Which was not the case of Holland against France yesterday

[Astro0]

I just love it when images like this come together.
From the very small (on Mars) to the very big (our Sun).
Phoenix and SOHO images side by side make an interesting comparison.

Enjoy
Astro0

[nprev]

... damn! That's actually more than a bit profound, but won't get into it here.

EDIT: Ah, what the hell: perception is an integral part of existence. Maybe we see things of wildly different origins in similar ways just to try to make sense of it all. We are limited in so many ways.

[Gray]

Interesting amber crystalline-looking particle (blue arrow).[attachment=14673:sm_4859_...omp_copy.jpg]
I hope we see lots more.
Speculation time!

I found that grain to be of interest too.

I also thought that it looked more cubic than round. I even speculated that it might be halite. But of course, halite isn't the only mineral to break into cubiform shapes.


One interesting quality of the grains is that many of the larger grains are rounded - which suggests a fairly high degree of abrasion. It's not surprising, given the degree of aeolian activity on the planet...

[Airbag]

Interesting image and explanatory text of various substrates and soil samples for use with the Atomic Force Microscope:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/...ic_rotated.html

Airbag

[Juramike]

Interesting image and explanatory text of various substrates and soil samples for use with the Atomic Force Microscope:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/...ic_rotated.html

From the caption: "The strip third from the left, with a peg spacing of 5 micrometers, has been most successful in collecting the particles."

To put into perspective, grain sizes less than 4 um are considered "fine-grained". On Earth, once compacted and cemented together, these grains could form fine-grained sedimentary rocks like mudstones and fine-grained shales.

-Mike

[MahFL]

I just love it when images like this come together.

You know if no one had said anything I too would have thought those we the same type of image of the microscope view.

We are made of the same stuff stars are made of.

[elakdawalla]

By the way, I asked about the status of OM images on the raw images website, and was told they're reworking how the captions are generated for the images, and that once they're done with that work the images should start showing up again, hopefully within a few days from now. I don't know if this means that older images will be posted or not.

--Emily

[gallen_53]

Cubic? With (if I may be so bold) a corner taken out.

Could it be iron pyrite?

[Shaka]

Translucent?

[Aussie]

Looks tetragonal

[Stu]

This little animation just cries out to be shown on a big screen... Hold onto your chair arms though... !

[brianc]

This may be of interest - Dr Tom Pike - MECA - Diary on BBC News website


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7408033.stm