[X] My Assistant

[Nirgal]

I've been fascinated by the large martian whirlwinds (the term "dust devil" does not quite justice to this penomenon since they easily surpas the largest torandoes in size) ever since their existence was proved by the orbiter camers (Viking, MOC).

For me this phenomenon is, like nothing else, proof and visible sign of the
dynamic nature of this planet that distinguish it from the other, death worlds we visited (like the moon ...)

So when I first saw the orbiter images of the devil streaked terrain with
the giant orbit-visible funnels casting their shadow over the red plaines, I have always wondered how they would look like from the surface.

But never,ever in my wildest dreams have I imagined that the MER rovers would actually capture such clear & vivid high resolution shots of live dust devils directly from the surface !

So this hand colorized navcam image is my personal ode to the Whirlwinds of Mars and to the JPL/MER team that literally made dreams come true

[atomoid]

funny how dust devils are suddenly in season. Now as i parse the images coming down, its as if: "oh, just another dust devil, okay ets see what else is new today..."
!!
...and to think when Pathfinder reported a drop in pressure that was interpreted as a dust devil and there was that one highly processed false-color photo that revealed a litttle hazy bump on the horizon. And we got so exited about that, waiting eagerly for a sign from Spirit but none ever was seen...
...and then suddenly a first picture of a dust devil from spirit on sol 421 appeared out of nowhere (well i think that was the first, correct me if im wrong). and it was as if we'd been given this rare and special gift to see a real dust devil in action on mars.

It really is amazing that were seeing such activity now, that im actually starting to get jaded, almost bored of 'the same old dust devils'... well, until you see this image and the zillions of animations here

Now its like tornado alley on Mars ...or are we still in Kansas?