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Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2

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Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2

#32

Post by rubidium »

sp332 wrote: post #23
ragmondo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and what's your definition of those on another planet that doesn't have a magnetic pole ? Is the "North" the "top" of the rotation - which way is the top ?? (here's a link that shows what a compass would do on the surface of Mars : http://mgs-mager.gsfc.nasa.gov/publications/grl_28_connerney... )

You know Earth's magnetic poles don't match up with its rotational poles right? They're kinda close, but the magnetic poles wander. Even though Mars (oddly) doesn't have strong magnetic poles, that doesn't mean it doesn't have poles. As for which one is north, we just pick a direction of the solar system to be "north". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_of_astronomical_bodies

I would guess that we now name the "north pole" on any planet that which your thumb points when doing the right hand rule with the rotation of the planet... but I'm not sure.

Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2

#34

Post by pyre »

biesnecker wrote: post #4

A 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.

No one said that the future isn't amazing (or maybe they did), but the "future" imagined in the 1960s is mostly still science fiction.

Where is my flying car? Where is my robot personal assistant? Where is my food replicator? Where is my day trip to the moon? Where is my space colony on Mars?

Just sayin'. :P

Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2

#35

Post by sp332 »

rubidium wrote: post #32
sp332 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know Earth's magnetic poles don't match up with its rotational poles right? They're kinda close, but the magnetic poles wander. Even though Mars (oddly) doesn't have strong magnetic poles, that doesn't mean it doesn't have poles. As for which one is north, we just pick a direction of the solar system to be "north". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_of_astronomical_bodies

I would guess that we now name the "north pole" on any planet that which your thumb points when doing the right hand rule with the rotation of the planet... but I'm not sure.

That's used for moons and dwarf planets etc. But in this solar system, we actually have a designated hemisphere that is "north" for planets. It's explained in that link I posted.

Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2

#37

Post by nkoren »

Note that this is actually missing a very major feature of the landscape: Aeolis Mons, or mount Sharp. The NASA panorama that this was adapted from failed to image the upper 2/5ths of the environment (roughly), and therefore did not capture the 15,000-foot mountain that is looming above the rover.

The maker of this panorama cleverly edited the image to show a false horizon where the mountain would actually be. It looks good, but gives the misleading impression that the rover is surrounded by a band of low hills, when the truth is rather different.

Here's a picture of mount Sharp, taken from a different camera than did the panorama:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4271

If you look at the foreground terrain, you'll see that it matches the WSW terrain of the OP. There should be a gobsmackingly big mountain there!

Re: Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2

#39

Post by wkdown »

DougBTX wrote: post #25
ragmondo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and what's your definition of those on another planet that doesn't have a magnetic pole ? Is the "North" the "top" of the rotation - which way is the top ?? (here's a link that shows what a compass would do on the surface of Mars : http://mgs-mager.gsfc.nasa.gov/publications/grl_28_connerney... )

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

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