New Mars Forums

Steve S said in yesterday's press briefing that they think the crater is 130 m wide and 20 m deep.

Mars' axial inclination is 23.59 degrees.

Hope this helps - make us some more lovely pics! 

What can I say, except WOW...

http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/collection … er_pan.jpg

It's as if you're there! 

With so many new members joining, and so many amazing pictures appearing on websites scattered all over the net, I thought it might be a good time to start listing and recommending the ones we all use for our regular "fixes" of new pictures from Mars...

Here are my recommendations...

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004]http:// … ov/mer2004 

The official JPL website, updated "regularly"...

http://origin.mars5.jpl.nasa.gov/galler … unity.html

"Raw" images here, including all the pictures of sundials you could ever want (only joking!  ) This link is to the Opportunity page, but a menu on the left lets you see Spirit's, too...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/photopost/i … /index.php

The famous "Exploratorium" website, featuring soooo many pictures, updated daily (almost).

http://www.marsunearthed.com/OMIndex/Ma … sIndex.htm

In my opinion, the best site for 3D MER images. Have those red and blue glasses handy... updated regularly, too.

http://www.lyle.org/mars]http://www.lyle.org/mars
http://www.keithlaney.com]http://www.keithlaney.com
http://www.lyle.org/~markoff]http://www … g/~markoff

Excellent non-JPL images on these three sites...

http://mer.rlproject.com]http://mer.rlproject.com

Another Mars forum, check out the images posted by Doug Ellinson especially, they're beautiful.

http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewf … ...e8a3741

The "Martian Chronicles" forum on the excellent BAD ASTRONOMY Website. Look out for images posted by members which are easily as good as many you'll see on JPL sites...

http://art.brownpau.com/wiggle]http://a … com/wiggle

An amazing selection of the "jiggly" 3D images which are becoming popular online now...

Think that's it for now. I hope others will post their selections and recommendations, too. 

(raises eyebrow in a Spock-like gesture)

Mmmm, fascinating...

However, playing Devil's Advocate for a moment (I guess someone has to)...

I want to see and find puddles, or ice ponds, on Mars as much as anyone else, but it looks a bit small to me. Surely a water puddle this small wouldn't last long, the water would evaporate away very quickly..? And if it was ice wouldn't it be brighter than this?

I may have an alternative excplanation, but no flames please, it's a purely personal, amateur view... look closely you'll see some rocky fragments close-by. Maybe these are meteorite fragments... Why think this? Well, think back to Eagle Crater, and the smooth areas left by the impact of the airbags... the impact of the airbags left very smooth, blueberry-free areas on the crater floor. Maybe an impacting meteorite would have the same effect - i.e. press the hematite beads into the surface leaving a flat patch..?

Like I said, just a thought, not claiming to be an expert in any way. And of course I hope I'm very, VERY wrong!!! 

Boulders and outcrops and dunes, oh my...

http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/collection … navcam.jpg

Or, looking at it another way...

It's very flattering that kids (or whoever) come here and ask our advice. I mean, pt yourself in their place. You've probably been set  an assignment about Mars, panicked wondering "Where the **** am I going to find THAT information?"... turned to the web... Googled "Mars"... found 68 gazillion Mars-related websites... panicked again... dived in and started surfing site after site without finding what you were looking for...

Then you found New Mars, and breathed a sigh of relief, realising that you'd found a place where people not only discuss Mars and its exploration sensibly but passionately, debate the issues open-mindedly but logically, *and* welcome newcomers too! It's only natural that you'd ask people here for help and advice.

I think it's flattering actually. This is what we all want, isn't it? To "spread the word" and influence people? Who better to influence than kids? You never know, one of the Help Me!s posting here might end up being the first person to set foot on Mars...  :;):

Some intriguing new pictures on the Exploratorium pages...

Details in the far wall of Endurance crater -

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … ...7M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … ...7M1.JPG

- anyone else seeing layering and detail on that wall over there? 

And this image hints that there may be some vertical relief in the Meridiani landscape, albeit far away on the horizon -

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … ...1M1.JPG

Josh: to answer your earlier question about "which way are we facing?" - the camel-hump like "peak" on the centre right of the image there is "Ramon Hill", named after the Israeli astronaut who died on Columbia. To its left is McCool Hill.

Maybe meteorites from Earth... meteorite collectors here on Earth (myself included) prize Mars meteorites above most others, and as there are almost certainly pieces of terrestrial rock waiting to be found on Mars, makes sense that they'll become collectors items too, and - as is the case with meteorites here - the bigger the specimen, the more it's worth. So I can see martians wearing brooches, pendants and rings inlaid with pieces of terran meteorite, or maybe displaying large specimens in their modules. The ultimate prize would be a piece of Earth, found on Mars, which was blasted off Earth by the impact(s) which helped speed the demise of the dinosaurs, tho quite how they'd be able to determine their origin that accurately I can't say.

Nice image of a rock inside Fram showing layering...

[http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … 32R1M1.JPG]http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars....1M1.JPG

No, it's not just you... at the risk of sounding like a heretic (and wrecking my own story...!    ) I think the outcrops in Fram appear to be made of less-weathered, more-interesting looking rocks... they certainly seem to my - admittedly untrained - eyes to be less eroded and more detailed... can't WAIT to see them in close-up! 

There's also a great 3D pic of Fram, with Endurance in the background, here...

[http://www.marsunearthed.com/Opportunit … y49_3D.htm]http://www.marsunearthed.com/Opportu...._3D.htm

And yes, the hills do seem a lot closer.

Hey there MadCap, welcome to our little (but growing!) community...

Hope you enjoy yourself here! 

Don't panic, I think it's just a lens flare, the kind of overexposure effect you get when you point any camera at a bright light source.