Starship Asterisk*

Apologies in advance for expressing this particular pet peeve, But —

Speaking of the Great Film, </SARC>, whoever came up with the line, “In your face, Neil Armstrong!” — How dare they? Andy Weir, Drew Goddard, Riddly Scott and/or Matt Damon — How did those armchair astronauts have the gall to mock an *actual hero*? That one line ruined the entire film.

— end of rant —

[quote="Chris Peterson" post_id=293162 time=1561212606 user_id=117706]
[quote="orin stepanek" post_id=293160 time=1561205916 user_id=100812]
Reminds me of a winter scene! :b: :rocketship: :wink:
[/quote]
A somewhat more human-eye-oriented rendering:
_
PIA19363_1024_color.jpg
[/quote]

True; I liked the wintry look though!

[quote="orin stepanek" post_id=293160 time=1561205916 user_id=100812]
Reminds me of a winter scene! :b: :rocketship: :wink:
[/quote]
A somewhat more human-eye-oriented rendering:
_
[attachment=0]PIA19363_1024_color.jpg[/attachment]

Reminds me of a winter scene! :b: :rocketship: :wink:

Did the author of The Martian know the coordinates looked like this, and did he pick the spot for a reason? The soil there does look about right to grow potatoes.

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190622.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_190622.jpg[/img] [size=150]Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] [url=http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_040776_2115]This close-up from[/url] the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera shows weathered craters and windblown deposits in southern [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_plains_on_Mars]Acidalia Planitia[/url]. A striking shade of blue in standard HiRISE image colors, to the human eye the area would probably look grey or a little reddish. [url=http://uanews.org/story/ua-mars-scientists-capture-image-of-sci-fi-landing-site]But human eyes have not gazed[/url] across this terrain, unless you count the eyes of NASA astronauts in the scifi novel [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_%28Weir_novel%29][i]The Martian[/i][/url] by Andy Weir. The novel chronicles the adventures of Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded at the fictional Mars mission Ares 3 landing site corresponding to the coordinates of this cropped HiRISE frame. For scale Watney's 6-meter-diameter habitat at the site would be about 1/10th the diameter of the large crater. [url=http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html]Of course[/url], the Ares 3 landing coordinates are only about 800 kilometers north of the [url=http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/15may_marathon/](real life)[/url] Carl [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap970710.html]Sagan Memorial Station[/url], the 1997 [url=http://www.uahirise.org/PSP_001890_1995]Pathfinder landing site[/url].


[table][tr][td=left][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190621][b]<< Previous APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=center][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/view_retro.php?date=0622][b]This Day in APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=right][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190623][b]Next APOD >>[/b][/url][/td][/tr][/table]