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6 June 2008
The Big Picture
This news is a few days old, but it’s so cool I had to share it. At the American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference this week, astronomers have unveiled a 55 meter long infrared image of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The image is a mosiac of more than 800,000 images from the Spitzer space telescope. Forget the “Megapixels” you’re used to hearing about for your digital camera. This bad boy …
3 June 2008
Phoenix can dig it, can you?
Check it out: Phoenix has successfully broken ground on Mars, and the arm camera has proof in vivid color! Notice that there is some white stuff, even in this first scoop. Is it salt? Is it ice? Is it Something Else? Nobody knows… stay tuned.
2 June 2008
Holy Cow and Snow Queen
It looks like there is mounting evidence that two flat, light-toned deposits beneath the Phoenix lander, known as “Holy Cow” and “Snow Queen” are pieces of ice exposed when the rockets blew away a thin coating of soil. As always, Emily has all the gory details. I don’t have much to add other than to reiterate how amazingly awesome it would be for there to be ice that close to …
31 May 2008
Phoenix: Good News / Bad News
Bad news first: it looks like the Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument may have a short circuit in the mass spectrometer. I really hope they get this cleared up, because as I discussed before, the mass spectrometer is crucial in determining whether there are organic molecules or possibly life in any soil samples. Now the good news: Images from the robotic arm camera are showing a smooth, light-toned substance …
30 May 2008
Phoenix Rock Names and Arm Animation
Seems like all I do these days is link to the Planetary Society blog, but I’ve come to accept that. Check out these animated gifs that Emily put together of the Phoenix arm and bucket being unstowed! Also, the science team has apparently named some of the rocks at the landing site. I never cease to be amused by the names that scientists come up with for rocks on Mars. …
29 May 2008
Phoenix Panorama!
I just found out from the Planetary Society blog that Phoenix has completed it’s first full panorama! Check it out! There are some tiles that are a lot darker than others, which I hope is a problem that they will be sorting out. But check out that unstowed arm! Let’s start digging!
27 May 2008
HiRISE is my Hero
Another amazing image from HiRISE, this time of the Phoenix lander, heat shield and parachute on the ground: Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy has a detailed interpretation of what we’re seeing here. What struck me was how much darker the landing site looks compared to its surroundings. The dust on Mars is generally lighter than the rocks underneath, so the dark halo around the lander means that its rockets …
Phoenix Descends with a Dramatic Backdrop
You know the mind-blowingly awesome HiRISE image of Phoenix descending to the martian surface on its parachute? It just got better. Check this out: Phoenix was actually in front of the 10km Heimdall crater from HiRISE‘s perspective! It looks like it is falling right into the giant hole in the ground! Phoenix actually didn’t land in the crater but still. Best. Picture. Ever. (Hat-tip to Emily at the Planetary Society …
Polygons on Mars?!
There has been a lot of excitement about the first glimpses of the martian arctic returned by the Phoenix lander, and particularly lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” over pictures, like the one above of so-called “polygons” on the surface. So, what’s the big deal with these polygons and how do they form? The short answer is that polygons form when soil with water in it freezes and thaws. The basic …
26 May 2008
Phoenix Color and Anaglyph Images
Edit: Here is the official first NASA released false-color image from Phoenix. It compares pretty well with the one that Rick assembled last night! This is a first attempt at a color composite of the Phoenix landing site. It was assembled by Rick Kline, Data Manager for the Spacecraft Imaging Facility here at Cornell and he kindly said that I could post it to the blog! He also put together …
