More on Mars "blueberries" -- Opportunity will head to big crater!

Space Daily ^ | March 18, 2004

[djf]

Like I said, I still want to see a pic of a wombat scratching his...


But a plain, regular ant would do.

There are pics from spirit showing anthill type arrangements. We'll see, I guess.

[ColoradoSlim]

Alright, so lets say at one time Mars was covered in oceans of water. And lets also say maybe there were prolific bacterial life forms inhabiting these ancient seas. Would it not be unreasonable to expect deposits of methane hydrate would form through the decomposition of these primitive little hydrocarbon factories? Perhaps those ancient deposits of methane hydrate have now metamorphosed into vast fields of natural gas...

[cogitator]

Top pic - is that Beagle's "landing spot" in upper right hand? The Crater?

I'm not sure what you're asking; Beagle didn't land anywhere near Opportunity or Spirit.

[cogitator]

The mission will have to terminate at that point, unless the rovers can survive a 60-day or so loss of communications.

You're probably right. Supposedly the main constraints on the lander lifetime are the distance from the Sun (they get less power from the solar cells as the solar radiation decreases) and dust deposition on the cells. They probably know about when the distance-from-the-Sun parameter will curtail their power budget, and that's probably sooner than the communications interruption.

[gitmo]

Amazing stuff bump.

[gitmo]

QUESTION
I have a question for you astronomy buffs. What is the large, bright planet (or star?) that is near the moon around 7-8 PM lately? I am on the East Coast, and this has been the brightest thing in the sky when the moon was unlit.

Thanks in advance. And please pardon my ignorance.

[cogitator]

What is the large, bright planet (or star?) that is near the moon around 7-8 PM lately? I am on the East Coast, and this has been the brightest thing in the sky when the moon was unlit.

The brightest object in the sky after sunset right now is the planet Venus. Two nights ago the Moon was close to Venus; last night it was close to Mars. (Three nights ago I saw Mercury low on the horizon below the Moon; for at least another week, after sunset all five naked-eye planets are visible at the same time).

[gitmo]

Thanks !!!
I told my 9 year old son that FReepers would know the answer. I'll betcha if I'd asked the question on FR they would have said it was Barbara Streisand.