[X] My Assistant

[djellison]

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...E1P2741L1M1.JPG

Odd patch of fuzz in there - any ideas?

694 p2741.05 10 0 0 10 2 22 pancam_nighttime_opacity_L1R1


Doug

[SigurRosFan]

EDIT: Please let me know whether or not this animation works for you.

The animation works fantastic. Very nice work.

[SigurRosFan]

More star names ...

The full resolution version is 355 KB big.

[tty]

EDIT: Please let me know whether or not this animation works for you.

It works beautifully, even on a 56K line.

Funny I've never noticed that "Report this image as offensive/adult content" button before, I was sorely tempted to click it to see what would happen...

tty

[lyford]

....EDIT: Please let me know whether or not this animation works for you.

Worked for me using Safari browser. Nice.

[Zeke4ther]

EDIT: Please let me know whether or not this animation works for you.

Works for me!

Very nice!

[Bill Harris]

Thanks for the star IDs, blue_scape.

--Bill

[AndyG]

Thanks for the star IDs, blue_scape.

--Bill

Yes, thanks very much! Three things spring to my mind:

1) The Martian south pole is not our south pole - I have to say that it's distinctly odd to see, hammered home, Doradus and the net of Reticulum rotating at a different angle compared to our view from Earth.

2) The Pancam isn't bad as a wide-angle telescope. Beta Dorado is a Cepheid variable with a magnitude range of 3.46-4.08, Theta Dor is mag 4.8, and Epsilon Dor 5.1 - heading for the limit of naked-eye visibility. Yet there's stars shown in the pancam image that are as dim as magnitude 7.5/7.7 (well beyond naked-eye visibility) before a cut-off at around mag 7.9/8.0. This is on a par with a poor pair of binoculars (...or a good pair used under streetlights!)

3) SAO 249066 (R Dorado) is a variable star which reaches a listed mag 4.8 at maximum brightness - yet here it's clearly shown brighter than Beta Dorado and Alpha Reticuli (3.35). Is that because the pancam chip is more sensitive to IR/red light than "normal" visible light, and R Dorado is a strong IR/red source?

Andy G

[David]

1) The Martian south pole is not our south pole - I have to say that it's distinctly odd to see, hammered home, Doradus and the net of Reticulum rotating at a different angle compared to our view from Earth.

Someday I'd like to find a list of the celestial coördinates that the N and S poles of each of the planets (and the Sun) are directed towards.

[Bill Harris]

find a list of the celestial coördinates that the N and S poles of each of the planets

Here are the details for Mars:Astronomy on Mars

And the North celestial pole is within 10* of Deneb, so Cygnus is the Polar constellation. There are a different set of Equatorial constellations, but the Earth and Martian ecliptic are similar so the Zodiac is the same. There may
be "planetarium" programs that will do this, but I'd like to see N and S hemisphere star maps for Mars.

--Bill

[SigurRosFan]

... and R Dorado is a strong IR/red source?

Estimate effective temperature: 2,740 +/-190 Kelvin (1997)

Spectral type: M8 IIIe

[Bill Harris]

M8, 'bout as red as can be.

Remember that silicon detectors (CCDs) are inherently IR-sensitive, but halide detectors (film) tend to be blue-sensitive, so stars of different spectral classes (colors) will appear to have a different "brightness" on each detector.

--Bill

[ustrax]

So...During the day Spirit is observing El Dorado on the surface of Mars and by night her eyes are focused on a starry Dorado?...
Inspiring...Gold all around!

Here's the story of the Dorado constellation:
http://www.relativedata.com/fillskyexample.pdf

[um3k]

Oh good, I guess I'm the only one that the animation won't work for.

[lyford]

Oh good, I guess I'm the only one that the animation won't work for.

Try saving the image to your computer and open in a graphic program - that has worked for me in the past when the browser only loads some of the other frames for some reason.

DOH - just realized it was YOUR animation to start with.... Oh well

[David]

Here are the details for Mars:Astronomy on Mars

And the North celestial pole is within 10* of Deneb, so Cygnus is the Polar constellation.  There are a different set of Equatorial constellations, but the Earth and Martian ecliptic are similar so the Zodiac is the same. There may
be "planetarium" programs that will do this, but I'd like to see N and S hemisphere star maps for Mars.

--Bill

Thanks. I used Celestia to get very approximate ideas of where the poles of some of the other planets pointed. I was surprised to find that Jupiter and the Sun have almost exactly the same orientation (towards a spot in the middle of the curve of Draco). This is also close to the center of Earth's precessional circle. I wonder if this is a coincidence? Or if it's possible the planets formed out of the planetary disk with the same orientation as the Sun's, and all of them except Jupiter have been subject to some disturbing forces that have caused their poles to move elsewhere?


Edited addendum: Venus' and Luna's north celestial poles are almost in the same spot as the Sun's and Jupiter's; Mercury's is different, but still close by in Draco. The other planets' poles have quite different orientations.