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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Mars _ HiRISE Images on 'Mars on Google Earth'

Posted by: Stuart H Nov 16 2010, 04:18 PM

Am I the only person who has noted the incorrect location of the HiRISE image PSP_002347_1915 on the surface of Mars in Google Earth ?

It has been placed at 11.69° North, instead of 11.59°.
This can be easily confirmed by adding the CTX image P03_002136_1918_XI_11N269W at 11.75°N; 90.88°E and adjusting its transparency.
2 main craters in PSP_002347_1915 are seen to move wrt CTX.
But the CTX image lines up well with the background Mars surface.

Does anyone know how to inform the guys at 'Mars on Google Earth' of the error and get it fixed ?

Posted by: Astro0 Nov 16 2010, 10:34 PM

Stuart, there's been lots of discussion about the maps and postions over on this http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=6747 and this http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=6750&hl=google where Ross Beyer from the Planetary Content Team at NASA Ames, works with Google, Inc. to get content into Google Mars.

These are the guys to ask, but believe me they already know the problems and are working to fix them.

Posted by: schaffman Nov 17 2010, 10:01 AM

Google has another problem with their Mars coordinates. They show the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn at +/-23.45 degrees latitude. This is for Earth, not Mars. On Mars, the tropical latitudes are from +25.19 to -25.19 degrees. This may not be a problem in relation to locating spacecraft image coordinates, but it's a blaring enough error to make me suspect the coordinates of anything shown on Google Mars. I'm surprised this hasn't been fixed yet.

--Addendum to above--

Is Google accounting for the difference between areographic and areocentric coordinates? The discrepancy cited in the starting post is a tenth of a degree. This sounds about right for the expected difference of the two coordinate systems at latitude 11 degrees. Just a thought.

Tom

Posted by: Stuart H Nov 17 2010, 10:54 AM

ADMIN: Unnecessary quoting removed. Refer to http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=boardrules under the Forum Guidelines.

I think it is just 'finger trouble'. Someone hit the 6 button instead of 5 when entering the co-ordinates.
But I like your suggestion, Tom.

Stuart