Why is there a black patch on the back of the rover?
It does almost look like something was edited out. Not sure though.
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Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
61–70 of 84 posts
Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
#62Coming soon from Google, Mars Maps!
Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
#63I assume the author did a very thorough job removing the pole on which this should be mounted? When you look straight down, there's no sign of anything... almost as if this is a levitating camera detached from anything.
Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
#64A high-res panorama of Mars, taken by a semi-autonomous robot that was landed via rocket sky crane, transmitted 14 light minutes across space, then transmitted on demand through a global information network to my computer. And people say the future isn't what it was made out to be.
And it you watch it in your iPad 2, you will be holding the viewport in your hands.
If I had looked at this on my laptop, I would have said, "Cool". On my iPad, though, I was transfixed, especially after removing browser chrome and maximizing the image. It felt lie FaceTime with Mars.
To the creator I say, "Well done!"
Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
#65I find it incredibly ironic that an ad for Mitt Romney's campaign is splashed across the bottom with the words "Support a smaller government." I know it's just Google's ad service, but really now....
Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you point at the NASA logo on the rover you will see how big the color shift is. It's supposed to be blue but it's yellow and red. Whether it's the lighting on Mars, or the camera, or post-processing to blame for this - I have no idea, but the picture doesn't look like it reflects the reality from the human eye's perspective.
Here is the original panorama image http://goo.gl/8a41M I think this is original color.
The OP's interactive panorama is extremely cool, but I prefer the original you linked here. With the color shift and distortion, the interactive one feels dreamy and imaginary. The original is just so raw, real, and powerful. It makes me think "holy shit, this thing is on another planet, and it looks a lot like our own!" I can almost imagine standing next to the rover, surveying the desolate, alien landscape.
What an amazing time we live in!
Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
#67Maybe I'm just dull, but how is it possible to see the entire robot? Where is the camera mounted?
Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
The orbital axis of all the planets in our solar system are roughly parallel (within 10 degrees, Mars is just under 2 degrees off ours), so it would be fair to pick a north pole at the same "end" as ours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_inclination
Fun fact: Uranus is at 97+ degrees, making it almost perpendicular to the other planets axis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus#Axial_tilt
Hm, guess that means I don't understand the article I linked to.
Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
#69I find it incredibly ironic that an ad for Mitt Romney's campaign is splashed across the bottom with the words "Support a smaller government." I know it's just Google's ad service, but really now....
Sadly, it's looking like NASA in general and planetary science in particular will face cuts under either candidate.
Not the kind of budget cut that means "you get less of an increase than you'd planned", but "You get less money next year than you got this year" kind of cuts.
Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
nkoren: you are very careful ;) Thanks for the comment, but I really did not have source materials to recreate this mountain
Yeah, I know the material is missing. Sorry if that came off critical of you -- your panorama is really truly gorgeous! I'm honestly feeling a bit petulant towards NASA for failing to include the mountain in their initial panoramas[1] -- they've missed 80% of the drama in that landscape! When they finally get around to imaging the mountain properly, I hope you patch that back into your panorama, because that'll be st…
> in the litany of First World Problems...
This is what we might call a "Fourth-World Problem." :)