First day, Post-EDL Options

[nprev]

Cool thought, oDoug! I'd been regarding it as an artifact; can hardly wait to see the second look!

[PDP8E]

The Other Doug,

It could be a flare effect that we see in many MER shots of very reflective objects, but I am in agreement with you that that is a man made object.
I can wait to get the calibrated (vs. JPG) images to play around with!

[djellison]

Heatshield having done an opportunity I think. If it were the backshell, we'd have a parachute next to it.

Doug

[dvandorn]

Yeah, that was my thought, Doug. I thought about lens flare and cosmic ray hit, too -- but the thing casts a shadow. Lens flares don't cast shadows.

-the other Doug

[edstrick]

red/blue <whatever the real wavelengths are...> color, no balancing to get "natural".... just showing the most detail.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[PDP8E]

Ed,

where are the filter numbers used in each image?

[Paolo]

What a great way to start the day! It's about 8 AM here in Italy.

[Paolo]

What happens next? I can't find a timetable for the next actions/communication opportunities

[Steve G]

At closer look at the artifact near the horizon definately looks like it's an object, it's about 10 pixels in length. The flare reminds me of the shots we have of Opportunity's heat sheild that also caused a significant image flare from the CCD. Perhaps we can get some "super resolution" shots of it, as obviously, we're as close as we can get. I hope the parachute is a little closer.

[edstrick]

Did NOT catch the filter numbers, it's pretty obvious which is longwave and which is shortwave. Green filter is a mindless average of "red" and "blue"

I see somebody else posted essentially the same pic. Only difference is I did a "sharpen" on my ver. to "crisp" things up. I have to compsite up the other color pairs. also. Very little in the way of reddish "dust", none of the fine "drifts" as seen at the Viking 2 site, where they were common in polygonal troughs (obviously much younger), though "protected" areas in low spots and between rocks do seem smoother and red, as though there's a thin dust coating in the area.

The surface is pervasively granular, as though 20% of the material was poorly sorted gravel. I'm NOT sure at all that a lot of that stuff is in fact rock, though much of it in the color pic I made up is bluer than the "soils" and clearly is not highly weatered reddish material.

No "duricrust" visible, but 1 frame out of a landing site ain't much.

Re the "object" on the horizon.. it looks too sharp, as though not imaged by the optics. I'm 90% convinced it's just a cosmic ray hit, like gadzillions of'm on the MER rovers.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

amazing terrain indeed, but remember we're near the Pole

[Tesheiner]

Good morning everyone... is there anybody in there?
(Mmm, it looks like there was a party here a few hours ago and now everybody is sleeping.)

It was great to start the morning with such great news! I've just finished reading the threads here at UMSF from the point I left yesterday --yes, I was *sleeping* during EDL. It seems I'm against the mainstream.-- and will now continue on other sites.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Two quick questions:

1. Did NASA already pinpoint the exact location of the Phoenix Lander?
( newsarticle stated: 68.2 North - 234 East )
2. How long before Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will snatch a photo of the landing area?

Exciting times indeed

the other Phil

[ustrax]

I managed to sleep three hours...
A hard working day ahead...

[Simon]

Hi,

Here is another false colour knock up job.



Does anyone have a filter guide. I looked around the net for one - but could not find.

Also the images at LPL are not listing their filter numbers so you have to guess what they are with trial and error.

But this came out eventually and does the trick.

Will be interesting to see what the "real" colours are.

I'm guessing there should be color images available in a few hours.



Cheers,
Simon Mansfield
SpaceDaily.com