The Photo Poll on the MER mission web has a winner.
And the winner is ... Spirit's scene of the setting sun.



http://marsdata1.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/photoContest/index.cfm

1030 posts and you still can't manage to not have a quote of the post before yours - SLAP - doug
and another one - SLAP - Nico
and Dan pulls an ear

...as expected...
There's also a nice video on Oppy's 3rd anniversary.

Not the only place it shows up. Have a look at this:

http://www.asaa-avart.org/Exhibit2006Image...elSunsetTop.htm

Ahh yes - the famous view to the North East where then Sun always sets...



Nice Painting - but boy oh boy - fairly basic flaw in the realism there. Also - at sunrise or sunset, the arm wouldn't be in the Opportunity hover placement..it would be stowed or deployed on a target.

Doug

Hum hum, it looks to me like Spirit near Larry's lookout

Yup - the backdrop is a painting matching identically the first lookback images of Larrys Lookout - a view that was pointing North. The actual sunset image voted favorite was taken in a direction about 100 degrees to the left

I'm just a stickler for accuracy.

Doug

That always bugs me too - probably more than it should. I just can't appreciate the work if the sun is blatantly in the wrong place. I mean, if it's done in the style of Van Gogh, then fair enough, I don't care where the sun is... but for realism, I just think the sun should not set in the North. It's a thing.

It's why I love Dan's MER animation -.one of the greatest pieces of animation I've ever seen - still now even though it's 4 years old. BUT

It should go stage sep - fairing jet....then the long stage 2 burn with the vehicle exposed...then stage 2 shutdown - stage 2-3 sep - stage 3 ignitione etc..

BUT - He makes fairing jet happen seconds before 2nd stage burn out...which drives me CRAZY.

Doug

You guys *really* should try to get out more!

(Hey, Ma! Look, no quotes!)


Bob Shaw

Don't forget to talk about the noise all these event make. Even if it's better than having "Also spretch Zaratoustra" instead

Not only Van Gogh! Stu also do this
(Hi, Stu !)

LOL.

It looks like the "mods" were very busy today. I heard Ustrax will have to pay all beers on the UMSF bbq.

Lucky for You that you're not living up here near the arctic circle where it does just that all summer.

tty

You got that right! I'm a good 25 to 30 degrees of latitude south of the Arctic Circle here in Minnesota, and on the summer solstice the sun sets a little north of directly northwest (at about 9:40 p.m.) and in the six or so hours it remains below the horizon, a faint glow never completely disappears from the northern sky. The glow rotates across full north and then flowers into a north-northeast dawn, between 3:30 and 4 a.m.

I love summer up here -- but of course, we also get the obverse in winter, when the sun rises at 8:30 a.m. and sets by 4:20 p.m., never rising (even at noon) much above thirty degrees off the horizon...

-the other Doug

I was thinking of adding "when you're near the equator of a planet with a relatively modest axial tilt" to what I wrote above, but I figured people would know what I meant.