Going To Homeplate... Options

[Bob Shaw]

Some generalised dyke references (you may know the feature as a 'dike'):

http://www.scottish-towns.co.uk/perthshire...ff/geology.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dike_(geology)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dikes-large.jpg

Bob Shaw

[jamescanvin]

Not levelled out the brightness, but what the hell, it's something

Levelled out versions on my website





James

[Bill Harris]

Thanks, James. These images will be great to play with.

--Bill

[jamescanvin]

Thanks, James.  These images will be great to play with.

--Bill

Your welcome, play away.

[ElkGroveDan]

Levelled out versions on my website


James

Those dark layers on the right side of the cropped image look really interesting. It looks like slabs are breaking off intact, the way shales do. I'm not suggesting shale compositions, but I have seen layered rhyolites with that look.

[sattrackpro]

"It looks like slabs are breaking off intact, the way shales do." - Dan

Sure does... one thing is really apparent now that we are close - this has many, many layers - and as you can see the top isn't flat at all - it has many layers.

This is going to keep many people guessing, untill much spectrographic work is done. It wouldn't surprise me if we spent a whole week or more climbing around, over and through this whole area.

[Phil Stooke]

Very nice, James.

What a great place! It was worth the wait, and the effort to get here. Lots of layers, indeed... I think a week might be a serious understatement! Luckily Spirit is here a week ahead of schedule, and with about 60 days to go for the target of being on the north-facing slope of McCool Hill. I'd guess about three weeks here, with three-day stops at five or six places up and down the section.

Getting off HP might be more tricky than getting on it. If they are pushed for time they would presumably want to exit on the south side, but that's a bad slope for lighting. The slopes look bad to the east, so they might have to exit on the north side again which will mean a longer drive. Hopefully there's still lots of margin for the solar panels.

Phil

[CosmicRocker]

Only a week!

I'll wager it will be longer than that. Especially if these turn out to be rocks with a new story to tell.

[mars loon]

Only a week! 

I'll wager it will be longer than that.  Especially if these turn out to be rocks with a new story to tell.

Yeah, definately way more than a week and more like Phil's 3 week suggestion. This has been a long time coming and well worth an extended tour

[RNeuhaus]

The closer is Spirit to HP, the more interest is to visit it. I have the impression that on the south side of HP must have better view of slabs since the prominent wind comes from the south east. It is worth that Sprit cicle around the HP to study the perfil of ridge. Now Spirit is with Sol 743 so JPL is planning to reach it by Sol 750 and don't know about how long JPL is planning to visit around HP?

As we have known of the last winter experience that almost killed Spirit, so JPL must set a very strict deadline remain time on HP so Spirit must be leaving on time in order to catch a good height where there is a more windy zone and North face to take the advantage of Sun tilt (maximum Sun incidence) in order to permit, probably, the last Spirit Winter.

Now Mars is in Ls 6 degree. The January 22 was the start of Fall Term (Ls 0 Northen Spring/Southern Autum Equinox). The Southern Winter will start on August 08 (Ls 90). So, from now to August 08, there are 186 Earth days. That winter will last until Next February 8, 2008. Who know if Spirit will get out of winter's hibernation.

Rodolfo

EPHEMERIS FOR PHYSICAL OBSERVATIONS OF MARS

[Bill Harris]

There are so many things we now see at this site, and so many more to see!

My thoughts would be to work this scarp around toward the south and west (counterclockwise), getting a look at Little Mound and the caprock on Pitcher's Mound and that slab next to PM. Spirit may be able to circle HP and either drive onto the top or head up the hill for the Winter. And heading uphill the apparent exposures of the Homeplate Formation can be examined

Next week is going to be exciting.

--Bill

[mhoward]

Here's the Pancam anaglyph from Sol 742, stitched by Autostitch on behalf of Cosmic Rocker, who is having software problems tonight...

[CosmicRocker]

The closer is Spirit to HP, the more interest is to visit it. ...

Rodolfo

Rodolfo, I nominate that as the quotation of the day/sol. That pretty much sums it up.

Here's the Pancam anaglyph from Sol 742, stitched by Autostitch on behalf of Cosmic Rocker, who is having software problems tonight...

Thank you, Mike. I noticed that you posted the "large" version, which I hope some people enjoy. This is a most amazing view, and one that we all have anticipated for quite some time now. Let's enjoy it, as we await more data. I don't even know where to start my speculations.

[Reckless]

Hi everyone this is keeps getting more and more exciting.

I've noticed that the layers (which do indeed look like shale to me) in Jame's picture seem to point slightly upwards on the left and more level on the right.
This gives the impression of a subsurface bowl shape or curve like a syncline, which I've seen in shales often.
Can't wait to see more
Keep up the good work.
Roy F

[abalone]

I have done a couple of anaglyphs of pancam images but have kept them separate and unstitched. I find that stitched images have too much distortion between left and right image pairs to get good matches and individual pancam pairs show more detail. I have aligned the match to get left/right overlap right on the layered area for maximum detail.

Some nice layering visible, my bet is that its an old crater filled with layer of volcanic dust that have been slightly altered and cemented by small amounts of moisture/acid

Also shows bowl shape profile of both the layer and entire homeplate feature quite nicely.

Maybe someone would like to stitch these three together?

Attached thumbnail(s)