Post by thread:[OT] BREAKING NEWS: Forget planets, how about a sk

The next Mars rover will be *skating* among dunes ;-) www.universetoday.com/am/publish/water_ice_in_cater_at_north_pole.html?2872005 http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMGKA808BE_0.html Peter

> The next Mars rover will be *skating* among dunes ;-) > > www.universetoday.com/am/publish/water_ice_in_cater_at_north_pole.html?2872005 > http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMGKA808BE_0.html Also Excellent large scale view. Exaggerated vertical dimension is annoying. Black at edge is dunes, they think. Height is not due only to ice depth. Note ice on rh wall as well Crater is 35 km across and 2km high from floor at highest. http://www.universetoday.com/am/uploads/big.jpg Location map http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/images/m-ex_water-ice_north-pole-context_large_0728.jpg Overview http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/m-ex_water-ice-near-north-pole_picsto_0728.html Space daily http://www.spacedaily.com/news/marsexpress-05y.html Google says http://www.google.co.nz/search?num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=%22orbit+1343%22&meta=

Peter, Thanks for the links... On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 21:05:55 +0300 (IDT), Peter wrote: > The next Mars rover will be *skating* among dunes ;-) > > www.universetoday.com/am/publish/water_ice_in_cat er_at_north_pole.html?2872005 > www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMGKA808BE_0.h tml That picture looks like it's been heavily processed - look at the apparent resolution of the floor of the crater against that of the ice-patch - the former has vague blobs but on the latter you can see what look like melt-refreeze traces around the right hand side. Why (how?) this difference, I wonder? Cheers, Howard Winter St.Albans, England

On Sun, 31 Jul 2005, Howard Winter wrote: > vague blobs but on the latter you can see what look like > melt-refreeze traces around the right hand side. Why > (how?) this difference, I wonder? It may be out of focus. The crater is 35km across and the spacecraft is at about 100km from it ? (is it ?). With the focal length of what they are using parts of the image could be out of focus at times, plus motion blur. I am sure someone could explain that better. Peter