[X] My Assistant

[ljk4-1]

Jim Bell is coming out with a new book this November titled Postcards from Mars.

The details are here:

http://www.postcardsfrommarsbook.com

The book's subtitle, "The First Photographer on the Red Planet", has me wondering
how that will make all the previous Mars probes feel. Except maybe Mars 3 - there's
just nothing you can do with that image.

[djellison]

Oh - it's always going to be a judgement call based on personal taste...obviously I'm a big MER fan - I wasn't alive to experience Viking first hand, and I'm not trying to take anything away from their huge achievments - and I was just really getting online for Pathfinder, and loved that a huge ammount.

But I think Pancam is something a bit different - mainly because of the size of the pipe is had to send stuff back - they've been able to go "that'll look nice" and compose things from time to time...that first mosaic from Husband hill for example - http://pancam.astro.cornell.edu/pancam_ins...valley_new.html - or some of the sunset mosaics etc...they've been sequenced with an knowledge that they were making something stunning. Mobility helps as well.

MOC get's the same treatment

Take this - http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/05/31/ - stunning. Infact so is just about every single MOC image ever taken to be honest. BUT....I'd call that an image...

THESE, however...
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/06/23/
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/10_12_...98_olympus_rel/

THEY..are photographs

Now - to be honest, it's a fairly pointless differentiation, and it's objective, and differently so from person to person...but hey....a pretty picture's a pretty picture

Doug

[mcaplinger]

THESE, however...
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/06/23/
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/10_12_...98_olympus_rel/

THEY..are photographs

Oh, OK. So a working definition of a "photograph" from an orbiter is "an oblique image of no scientific value."

[monitorlizard]

Oh, OK. So a working definition of a "photograph" from an orbiter is "an oblique image of no scientific value."

According to one of my perfectionist geology professors, the word "photograph" explicitly requires the use of film and developing fluids. The word "image" is the most appropriate for a digitally transmitted view of an object, "picture" is an acceptable but less desirable term.

One other thought, when I heard the subtitle about first photographer on Mars, I interpretted it to refer to the rovers' ability to move around to get the best or most aesthetic view of various objects, as a photographer on Earth would do.

[mcaplinger]

One other thought, when I heard the subtitle about first photographer on Mars, I interpretted it to refer to the rovers' ability to move around to get the best or most aesthetic view of various objects, as a photographer on Earth would do.

It's an interesting question as to whether the rovers have ever been driven to a specific location solely to get the most aesthetic view of something. I would tend to doubt it, though it's probably impossible to sort out intentions after the fact.

And as long as I'm ragging on "the Ansel Adams of the space age", I'd be curious to know how many of the most aesthetic MER images ended up that way because of some intentional choice of planning options, and how many of them are aesthetic simply because the scene was aesthetic and the images were technically well-commanded.