APOD: Curiosity's Dusty Self (2018 Jun 23)

[APOD Robot]

Curiosity's Dusty Self

Explanation: Winds on Mars can't actually blow spacecraft over. But in the low gravity, martian winds can loft fine dust particles in planet-wide storms, like the dust storm now raging on the Red Planet. From the martian surface on sol 2082 (June 15), this self-portrait from the Curiosity rover shows the effects of the dust storm, reducing sunlight and visibility at the rover's location in Gale crater. Made with the Mars Hand Lens Imager, its mechanical arm is edited out of the mosaicked images. Curiosity's recent drill site Duluth can be seen on the rock just in front of the rover on the left. The east-northeast Gale crater rim fading into the background is about 30 kilometers away. Curiosity is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator and is expected to be unaffected by the increase in dust at Gale crater. On the other side of Mars, the solar-powered Opportunity rover has ceased its operations due to the even more severe lack of sunlight at its location on the west rim of Endeavour crater.

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[Boomer12k]

"A dussty daaayyy....in Martian TOOOWWWNNN....".... one more TIME!!!

At least it will still be able to continue...go little rover, go...it takes nice selfies...
:---[===] *

[moonshiner]

a self portrait ?? i dont see how this is possible. there are no extensions or connections out of the screen to indicate a self portrait mechanism. i would have expected some sort of mechanical device to extend out of screen to capture a self portrait. please clarify.

and..

nasa ought to program probe to survey the really exciting formations such as valles marinaris and the volcanic highlands.

if probe could trot over to cydonia the epic face on mars and pyramids may be imaged. face on mars would necessarily be imaged from ground level but its outstanding details would nonetheless be apparent. the pyramids need to be surveyed. why have the scientific community avoided this issue ??

within a few years martian moon phobos will hasten its firey descent through martian upper atmosphere. the asteroid like satellite will break up into numerous chunks due to shock and heat and disperse along martian equatorial region. merge of phobos with mars will mark a new beginning for solar system.

[heehaw]

A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

[Ann]

A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Click to view full size image

The 1930s Dust bowl.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/4915-1930s- ... l-bad.html

You've got it.

Ann

[orin stepanek]

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcaf ... y+thirties

Was before my time; but remember dad telling stories about the dust bowl!

[De58te]

As a fan of sci fi and space exploration I try to keep up with all the latest news, but today I learned something new from APOD. I had never realized that the Opportunity rover was half way around Mars from Curiosity. I had thought they were just a hundred miles or so away. Guess maybe it was Spirit that was a hundred miles away. So, given that Mar's length of day is around 24 hours, just about the same as Earth, that means that when we see all these pictures of Curiosity taken during the daylight hours, that Opportunity is experiencing nighttime and so is in total darkness (assuming it doesn't carry a personal flashlight). So that makes sense the last line in the Apod description, when this Curiosity self portrait was taken, Opportunity was in the pitch darkness of night.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

a self portrait ?? i dont see how this is possible. there are no extensions or connections out of the screen to indicate a self portrait mechanism. i would have expected some sort of mechanical device to extend out of screen to capture a self portrait. please clarify.

The mechanical device is photo-shopped out of two or more selfies.

[rstevenson]

... if probe could trot over to cydonia the epic face on mars and pyramids may be imaged. face on mars would necessarily be imaged from ground level but its outstanding details would nonetheless be apparent. the pyramids need to be surveyed. why have the scientific community avoided this issue ??

What issue is it that you think scientists are avoiding? Both of those areas have been photographed from orbit, and they appear to be normal parts of the geology of the Martian surface. Yes, it would be more interesting to see them closer up--as is true of the entire planet--but for now there are better, more scientifically interesting targets for our robotic explorers.

within a few years martian moon phobos will hasten its firey descent through martian upper atmosphere. the asteroid like satellite will break up into numerous chunks due to shock and heat and disperse along martian equatorial region. merge of phobos with mars will mark a new beginning for solar system.

From... www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/phobos-is-falling-apart

Scientists expect the moon to be pulled apart in 30 to 50 million years.

Rob

[ERGI]

As always, come over here for background and insights and find more than I can ever understand alone! Gratitude and Thanks neufer and Ann for the gleanings!

As for Curiosity, that center wheel looks like it's taken a beating- making itself into a rock tumbler... maybe there's a gem in there!

[bystander]

a self portrait ?? i dont see how this is possible. there are no extensions or connections out of the screen to indicate a self portrait mechanism. i would have expected some sort of mechanical device to extend out of screen to capture a self portrait. please clarify. ...

https://www.universetoday.com/122883/wh ... -a-selfie/

[GoshOGeeOGolly]

a self portrait ?? i dont see how this is possible. there are no extensions or connections out of the screen to indicate a self portrait mechanism. i would have expected some sort of mechanical device to extend out of screen to capture a self portrait. please clarify. ...

https://www.universetoday.com/122883/wh ... -a-selfie/

Neufer, in one of the posts above, says it is photo shopped out. Neufer has the biggest, most active brain here .. and that is the only plausible answer.

[ta152h0]

There is a Brown Bear car wash half a mile from here, and we have a free car wash coupon/

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.