McMurdo Pan, Please post new images here Options

[MizarKey]

Sorry, I don't have a image to post.

However, I was hoping that now the pan images have been taken that the gurus (you know who you are ) could post the results here rather than continue in the "Winter Quarters" thread.

I'm looking forward to seeing the full color pan, I plan on framing it for my wall.

[jamescanvin]

Good Idea.

Note that contrary to popular belief, the McMurdo pan isn't finished yet. Look what's up for sol 919:

CODE

919 p2282.06 13  6   0   7   2   28   pancam_mcmurdo_grout_1_L234567Rall

Filling in the gaps to the solar panels,

James

[hortonheardawho]

Ah, good.

It concerned me that the current completed 360 pan had so many missing "fiddling bits" near the rover. I complained bitterly in a thread on the "other blog" about these missing pieces over a month ago.

Glad to hear JPL is completing the panorama "right and proper".

[djellison]

The scope of the McMurdo is discussed at length in one of the Pancam updates I did a few weeks ago

Doug

[jvandriel]

Here is the complete 360 degree Mc Murdo pan,

consisting of the 2 top row of L2 pancam images.

Taken between Sol 814 and Sol 914.

jvandriel

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[jvandriel]

and the same view but now centered 180 degrees

in the other direction.

jvandriel

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Stu]

Great pic Jvandriel, and everyone who's been working on this but... well... (shuffles feet)... I'm just wondering if I'm the only one who feels this way but... well... I know it's a magnificent achievement and all, and it will be scientifically invaluable, stunning detail, and it represents countless hours of processing blood, sweat and tears etc etc...

... but am I the only one who thinks the McMurdo pan subject is a bit, well... boring? No, not boring, just - compared to other pans, such as the one from the summit of Husband Hill - a bit unexciting?

Don't hit me! I know, I know, it's heresy, I'm sorry, and I am NOT ungrateful, believe me... I don't take for granted a single frame sent back by either rover (or begrudge members of the MER teams their holidays or expect daily updates to their sites!!! but I'm just not feeling that excited by it. That view from the top of Husband, with Home Plate far below, hills on the horizon, the Columbias sweeping off and down to the left...

Don't get me wrong Image Mages, love your work, I just think the scenery here isn't as stunning as we've seen elsewhere (and I KNOW it's not about scenery, it's about science... this is just a personal opinion )

[mhoward]

Don't get me wrong Image Mages, love your work, I just think the scenery here isn't as stunning as we've seen elsewhere (and I KNOW it's not about scenery, it's about science... this is just a personal opinion )

We're in view of Home Plate, El Dorado, Husband Hill, McCool Hill, and any number of interesting features that we haven't had a chance to take a look at yet. I'd say it's an excellent place to pause for reflection and take in the view over the winter months.

Oh, and did I mention it's on MARS?

[Stu]

We're in view of Home Plate, El Dorado, Husband Hill, McCool Hill, and any number of interesting features that we haven't had a chance to take a look at yet. I'd say it's an excellent place to pause for reflection and take in the view over the winter months.

Oh, and did I mention it's on MARS?

I know, and I agree with all that, I was just making an aesthetic "photographic critique" point, honestly. As a stand-alone image I personally don't think it has as much impact as others taken elsewhere, that's all I was saying. Don't shoot.

And yes, I know it's on Mars; I'm not a newbie here, I've been a "Mars Nut" ever since I was knee-high to a jawa my friend, so every image is precious to and treasured by me.

[djellison]

I really like the view back toward El Dorado...and the view toward McCool with that long thin ridge of rocks....and the view sort of 'behind' us up the hills to Pitchers Mound. I've grown to appreciated it more...I didn't think much of it to begin with, but I like it now. It's grown on me...it's..'home'.

Doug

[Stu]

Hmmmm... Maybe I've been so impatient to see into Beagle - and in the last couple of days so knocked out by the view - that I've been blase about McMurdo. There are some fascinating rocks on the hillside over on the left there...

I just think that when tourists are flicking through the 25Credit panoramic postcards at the Mars Heritage counter in the Spirit Trail Gift Shop their eyes will be drawn more to other views that's all, just like we appreciate more the classic Ansell Adams view of Yosemite Valley rather than other images of his, simply because of the composition, subjects etc... But then again maybe the McMurdo Pan will become a classic in future, who knows?

Forget I said anything. Just trying to get some aesthetic debate going to complement the geological ones.

[mhoward]

And yes, I know it's on Mars; I'm not a newbie here, I've been a "Mars Nut" ever since I was knee-high to a jawa my friend, so every image is precious to and treasured by me.

Didn't mean to suggest you were a newbie. My point is basically that any pan they want to do, I'll take it.

But if anything I'd describe the McMurdo pan as 'tantalizing,' not disinteresting - so much stuff just out of our reach for the moment.

P.S. Now if you want to get me raving about something on Mars that's 'boring', engage me in a conversation about the long trek across Meridiani.

[Gray]

... but am I the only one who thinks the McMurdo pan subject is a bit, well... boring? No, not boring, just - compared to other pans, such as the one from the summit of Husband Hill - a bit unexciting?

... this is just a personal opinion )

Ahh, Stu me boy, why don't you pour yourself one of those tall amber beverages and kick back and listen to a story with a moral from an old guy with gray hair. Here goes:

Two men hiking through the Himalaya, stopped to visit an old monk who was living in what was really not more than a cave. The monk had become pretty incapacitated by arthritis and was not able to venture very far beyond the confines of the cave. As they were sipping their tea, one of the travelers asked the monk if he resented that fact that his physical condition kept him from hiking and engaging in all the activities he did as a younger man. The monk smiled, raised his arms up as looked around the cave and replied that he was happy, about his current physical limitations. When the traveler looked puzzeled by his reply, the monk explained his answer. He said that now he was free of many of the distractions of his younger years and could devote all of his energy to his meditation.

So think of Spirit as that monk. It's days of charging off to each new outcrop or each new vista may be over, or at least suspended for some time. And so now it's left to leading a life that may seem boring but is no less productive that it's earlier days. The moral is, of course (and you knew this was coming from the minute you composed your post), the moral is , "be happy with what you've got."

Spirit now doing some of less exciting type of data collection that is also an important part of all scientific investigations. Yup, it's not as immediatly fascinating as chasing dust devils and some of the other things we've ggotten used to, but it's still worthwhile and valuable.


OK the sermon's over; you can wake up now.

gray

[Stu]

Spirit now doing some of less exciting type of data collection that is also an important part of all scientific investigations. Yup, it's not as immediatly fascinating as chasing dust devils and some of the other things we've ggotten used to, but it's still worthwhile and valuable.

Thanks gray. Wise words. I'm betting your monk had a whopping big plasma tv hidden away at the back of his cave tho... or at least a broadband connection and Exploratorium saved as a Favourite...

I did actually say in my original post that I knew it's an important location, that there's good science being done here, etc. My point wasn't that it's a data poor place, or scientifically uninteresting, it was purely - and okay, it's shallow! - about the look of the place. I'm a very visual person, it's just the way I am, and it's grown stronger with me because I've been giving public Outreach talks for (loud cough) years now, so I have developed a sense of, and you might say an "eye" for, images that have a spark about them, some subtle quality that will make members of my talks' audiences sit up a little straighter or lean forwards a little more closely towards the screen and think "Wow... that's something..."

What got me thinking about this was the fact that I'm doing a "Mars Day" at the library here in Kendal on Sunday (60 or so kids and their parents, with an illustrated talk followed by a big (and probably very messy!) crafts session where the chattering little gremlins darling little kiddies will draw, paint, collage and mosaic things martian, factual and fictional... I'll take piccies if anyone's interested...) and I'm in the process of updating my rolling "Mars Rovers Images" section of the Powerpoint. I've been adding new images, taking old ones out, which means rediscovering old faves (Burns Cliff... Oppy's shadow on the floor of Endurance... views from the summit of Husband Hill... so many!) and greeting new ones. It was that editing process which made me look at how I felt about McMurdo, and I found it just wasn't one of those "Wow, that's something!" images I am itching to share with people who aren't aware of this stunning adventure going on on Mars right now.

As a science guy I know that it's a data treasure trove, that Spirit is doing a fantastic job as a "temporary lander", I just don't think, artistically and aesthetically, it's as striking or pleasing an image as others. I meant no disrespect to the scientific aspect of it.

[paxdan]

I understand what Stu is saying.

IMHO the McMurdo pan itself isn't an image with artistic merit, it is more like the blank rock from which an artist may sculpt. David existed inside the rock before Michelangelo carved away the excess to reveal the form.

What i am trying to say is that, in order to arrive at an image with artistic merit we must carve away most of the McMurdo pan to reveal a portion, fragment, aspect or view in which resides a composition that is more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. We can all be 'photographers on mars' from this spot as we have a complete 360 degree view through which to point any virtual lens we chose.

I propose the McMurdo photography exhibition. Whereby, we each post our favourite views from this spot cropped from the full pan. There are two main categories, photos from the cylindrically projected pan and those cropped from a reprojected image, e.g., polar, overhead, QTVR, etc...

This requires no more skill than a good eye and the ability to crop an image and give those who don’t do the image processing a chance to shine ......