Explanation: What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't human? Then you might be the robotic Curiosity rover currently exploring Mars. Curiosity landed in Gale Crater last August and has been busy looking for signs of ancient running water and clues that Mars could once have harbored life. Pictured above, Curiosity has taken a wide panorama that includes its own shadow in the direction opposite the Sun. The image was taken in November from a location dubbed Point Lake, although no water presently exists there. Curiosity has already discovered several indications of dried streambeds on Mars, and is scheduled to continue its exploration by climbing nearby Mt. Sharp over the next few years.
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The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808)[/c]
<<After I had been there about ten or twelve days, it came into my thoughts, that I should lose my reckoning of time for want of books, and pen and ink, and should even forget the sabbath days from the working days; but to prevent this, I cut it with my knife upon a large post, in capital letters, and making it into a great cross, I set it up on the shore where I first landed, viz. "I came on shore here on the 30th of September 1659." Upon the sides of this square post, I cut every day a notch with my knife, and every seventh notch was as long again as the rest, and every first day of the month as long again as that long one; and thus I kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly, and yearly reckoning of time.>>
Last edited by neufer on Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
The link above (from following the " pictured above" link on the Apod text) takes you to the 360° scrollable image that this image was taken from.
Margarita
"In those rare moments of total quiet with a dark sky, I again feel the awe that struck me as a child. The feeling is utterly overwhelming as my mind races out across the stars. I feel peaceful and serene."
On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound
[float=right][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQzW6wz2JQk[/youtube][/float]
I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la ...
After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead
After nine days I let the horse run free
'Cause the desert had turned to sea
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
there was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with it's life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love[/color][/i]
In the lower left, the 'front bumper' of the rover has "Curiosity" spelled out, but it appears to be cut and shifted in the middle. Am I correct in assuming this is a 'defect' caused by splicing together the pieces of the mosaic?
I notice a vague, brighter glow on the soil near the shadow of the camera, which would be the anti-solar point. This appears to be from the “Opposition Effect” (as opposed to a “Glory” or the “Heiligenschein”).
mugsy wrote:In this picture it looks like some of the rock has an appearance of shale type. Flat layered rock requires water to produce this type of material.
Because these "flat rocks" are parallel to the surface, I wonder if they are ferricretes such as occur in iron rich arid soil here on earth.
APOD Robot wrote:... Curiosity has already discovered several indications of dried streambeds on Mars, and is scheduled to continue its exploration by climbing nearby Mt. Sharp over the next few years.
The official designation for that peak, as determined by the International Astronomical Union and reflected in the title of the linked wikipedia article, is Aeolis Mons. While the JPL Curiosity Team has been calling Aeolis Mons "Mt. Sharp" in honor of the deceased geologist Bob Sharp, this is only an informal usage. Perhaps this apod caption could read, "climbing nearby Aeolis Mons, informally called Mt. Sharp, ... ." Here are the IAU naming conventions for Mars.
<<Richard III, depicted by William Shakespeare as a monstrous tyrant who murdered two princes in the Tower of London, was killed fighting his eventual successor Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field in central England in 1485. In one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of recent times, a team from the University of Leicester said evidence showed that a skeleton found last year during excavations of a mediaeval friary under a parking lot in the city was indeed that of Richard. Academics said DNA taken from the body matched that of Michael Ibsen, a Canadian-born furniture maker in London who genealogists said was the direct descendant of Richard's sister, Anne of York. The skeleton showed signs of injuries consistent with wounds received in battle; a bladed implement appeared to have cleaved part of the rear of the skull while a barbed metal arrowhead was found between vertebrae of the skeleton's upper back. While the findings may solve one riddle about Richard, the last Plantagenet king of England remains a complex figure whose life, made famous by Shakespeare's history play, deeply divides opinion among historians in Britain and abroad.>>
If you are curious about Curiosity, this is an interesting video.
Margarita
"In those rare moments of total quiet with a dark sky, I again feel the awe that struck me as a child. The feeling is utterly overwhelming as my mind races out across the stars. I feel peaceful and serene."
Mars: Shadow at Point Lake
