Martian Dunes Thawing (APOD 03 Mar 2008)

[neufer]

neufer,
Note that many Mars Rover pictures are displayed in "false-colour", that exaggerates the colour differences markedly. The eyeball appearance would be a near uniform brown. I've not seen anything on the HiRise site to say that their pics are similarly 'falsified', but that intense dark blue could be a slight tinge in reality.

Do you think the blue of the (HiRise) sand dune "blow holes" is too blue to be due to (Mars Rover) blueberries (or some derivative of same)?

[JohnD]

neufer,
See this page from the Rover website. Shows several pictures featuring 'blueberries' in "near true colour". They are not that blue!
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press ... 0318a.html

Early in the missison, "Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres, the mission's principal science investigator, compared the "spherules" to blueberries inside a muffin." By comparision with their distribution, not their colour!

So 'blueberry' may be a misnomer, that could equally be 'currants', as in currant-bun!


John

[Andy Wade]

neufer,
See this page from the Rover website. Shows several pictures featuring 'blueberries' in "near true colour". They are not that blue!
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press ... 0318a.html

Early in the missison, "Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres, the mission's principal science investigator, compared the "spherules" to blueberries inside a muffin." By comparision with their distribution, not their colour!

So 'blueberry' may be a misnomer, that could equally be 'currants', as in currant-bun!


John

Blackadder I, The Queen of Spain's Beard:

Percy: You know, they do say that the Infanta's eyes are more beautiful than the famous Stone of Galveston.
Edmund: Mm! ... What?
Percy: The famous Stone of Galveston, My Lord.
Edmund: And what's that, exactly?
Percy: Well, it's a famous blue stone, and it comes ... from Galveston.
Edmund: I see. And what about it?
Percy: Well, My Lord, the Infanta's eyes are bluer than it, for a start.
Edmund: I see. And have you ever seen this stone?
Percy: (nods) No, not as such, My Lord, but I know a couple of people who have, and they say it's very very blue indeed.
Edmund: And have these people seen the Infanta's eyes?
Percy: No, I shouldn't think so, My Lord.
Edmund: And neither have you, presumably.
Percy: No, My Lord.
Edmund: So, what you're telling me, Percy, is that something you have never seen is slightly less blue than something else you have never seen?
Percy: (finally begins to grasp) Yes, My Lord.

[neufer]

neufer,
See this page from the Rover website. Shows several pictures featuring 'blueberries' in "near true colour". They are not that blue!
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press ... 0318a.html

Early in the missison, "Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres, the mission's principal science investigator, compared the "spherules" to blueberries inside a muffin." By comparision with their distribution, not their colour!

So 'blueberry' may be a misnomer, that could equally be 'currants', as in currant-bun!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redcurrant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackcurrant

A (currant?) "approximate true-color" photo:

<<This approximate true-color image taken by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows a region at the end of the rock outcrop lining the small crater, called "Eagle Crater," where the rover now sits. The sphere-like grains or "blueberries" dotting the rocks in the outcrop can also be seen above the rocks, suggesting that these geologic features have origins beyond Eagle Crater. Data from the panoramic camera's blue, green and red filters were combined to make this image.>>

Discussion at: http://www.marsroverblog.com/discuss-is ... -blue.html
-----------------------------------
I remain somewhat confused but I do appreciate John's help in this matter.
-------------------------------------------------
<<The Muffin Man is a traditional nursery rhyme or children's song
with English origins. The lyrics are as follows, or similar:
.
Do you know the Muffin Man? The Muffin Man, the Muffin Man.
Do you know the Muffin Man, Who lives on Drury Lane?
.
Drury Lane is a street in London, also notable for its theatre. Victorian households had many of their fresh foods delivered; muffins would be delivered door-to-door by a muffin man. The "muffins" were the product known in much of the English-speaking world today as English muffins, not the cupcake-shaped American variety. It could also refer to the darker era when Drury Lane was lined with brothels.>>

[JohnD]

In the spirit in which the above advice was offered, here is a picture of a blueberry muffin that you may compare with its Martian analogue.



















Of course that is nothing like an English muffin, as referred to above.
Here is an English Muffin:

Shot at 2008-03-11

John

[neufer]

Charles Dickens : Nicholas Nickleby » Chapter 2
.
'This meeting views with alarm and apprehension,
the existing state of the Muffin Trade in this Metropolis
and its neighbourhood; that it considers the Muffin Boys,
.... [i.e., JohnD & Neufer] as at present constituted,
wholly underserving the confidence of the public; and
that it deems the whole Muffin system alike prejudicial to the
health and morals of the people, and subversive of the best
interests of a great commercial and mercantile community.'

[bystander]

Of course that is nothing like an English muffin, as referred to above. Here is an English Muffin:

I'll take two, please. Hot, with butter!

[WetMars]

On this photo: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080303.html in the centre of the photo the dune seems "disturbed" by something, as if some big flat box was dragged right to it leaving a sharp disturbed edge right in the middle of the dune/page.
Also, what are those "green" spots or splashes everywhere? The place looks kind of toxic to have life on it.

[rstevenson]

You're looking at an area there that is most of a kilometer across, so that would be a very big box indeed! I assume any such line would indicate an underlying rock feature of some sort, partly covered by the dunes.

The color is false, made that way in order to more easily delineate subtle differences.

Check out this page for the details. There's lots of links there to more information.

Rob