Of more than passing Curiosity

360 Cities - Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 177 ^ | Taken 06:14, 07/02/2013 | Andrew Bodrov

[UCANSEE2]

I found a link to this INTERACTIVE VIEW of the Curiosity Rover on Mars on the ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY ARCHIVE.

It is one of the most amazing uses of this technology I have seen. It is like standing beside the Rover on Mars and using a pair of binoculars.

Give it a try. It is really fun.

[UCANSEE2]

Original 'flat' photo on APOD at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130222.html

Link to INTERACTIVE VIEW is also at that location as "this spectacular interactive version"

[UCANSEE2]

Is there an Astronomy ping list you know of that would be interested in this ?

[YHAOS]

Wonderful! Thanks very much.

[rlmorel]

Very cool! Thanks for posting it!

[dr_lew]

They cheated! Here's the first hole by itself from sol 180:

Here's the second hole next to the first hole from sol 182:

Here's the sol 177 image which is part of the panorama sequence:

Note the "scratch marks" on the adjacent rock where they did some preliminary drill tests. So, it's not a "sol 177" image. Never believe anybody.

[UCANSEE2]

Truth is a very elusive creature, no matter which planet is involved.

[null and void]

SunkenCiv runs the APOD ping list on FR.

While we’re on the subject, I’d like to be added to the APOD ping list.

[dr_lew]

“What is truth? Nothing but a mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms.” - The Fried-Monster

[UCANSEE2]

Thanks for the info.

[UCANSEE2]

Thought this might be of interest to Freepers on your APOD PING list.

[dr_lew]

Wow. It's worse than I thought. I got CURIOUS about how they patched that in, and started looking at it, and I noticed that there are gross disjunctures ( is that a word ? ) in the interactive panoroma. Here is a humble B&W circular NAVCAM panorama of the same location from sol 166 that I happen to have lying around :-)

Notice that the drill spot is to the left of center, in front of the "..URIOSITY" label on the front panel. ( Please don't confuse the breaks in this PTgui generated image with the sort of photoshopping that is evident in the APOD. ) In the APOD this whole area is drawn over and patched in front of the "diving board" or "duckbill", as you will.

I'm impressed by the artfulness of it, but chagrined that this would be passed off as any kind of scientific representation.

[dr_lew]

I made a "spherical" panorama from the sol 177 MAHLI images, and here is an excerpt of it :

Now here is a comparable screen shot of the APOD interactive panorama. You can see that it is a real mess compared to the accurately composed PTgui version:

I don't know what they think they're doing.

[dr_lew]

Well, wait a second! ... this production doesn’t have any association with NASA, does it? I was distracted by the mention of the APOD, which is NASA sponsored, if I’m not mistaken. Anyway, that’s a load off my mind! People can do whatever they want these images, but be advised, this interactive panorama is not an accurate representation, as I believe I’ve shown.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the pings null and void and UCANSEE2!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the pings null and void and UCANSEE2!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the pings null and void and UCANSEE2!

[cripplecreek]

The funny thing is that its only marginally warmer in some parts of Siberia than recent Martian nights.

A record of some -72(f) in Siberia vs -76 during the Martian night.

Via twitter

Curiosity Rover ‏@MarsCuriosity How chilly is chilly? The high is about -1C, with the lows in the -60s (or 30F high, -76F low).

[cripplecreek]

Wait a minute. I was mistaken. Its been considerably colder in Siberia than its been on mars. Joe Bastardi posted this link last night.

http://notrickszone.com/2013/02/23/northern-hemisphere-sets-new-all-time-record-cold-temperature-96-1f-in-oymyakon-siberia/

Northern Hemisphere Sets New, All-Time Record Cold Temperature: -96.1°F In Oymyakon Siberia !!

[SunkenCiv]

Siberia has air to breathe though.

[UCANSEE2]

Well... since the Martian soil looks pretty much like a dried up riverbed anyway, it wasn’t what interested me .

AND... a lot of work was done to eliminate the ‘arm’ which held the camera so it wouldn’t show up in the photos and this interactive view, which might have led to obscuring certain details of the ground.

HOWEVER, the view of the rover itself is awesome, and it’s not like the ‘view’ was meant to be used to do scientific research on the ingredients of the soil based on the image seen by the layman.

It’s just for entertainment, and in that respect, it is awesome.