[Gamecock]

Very cool!

[WKUHilltopper]

I see my house.

[blam]

Thanks for posting.

There's A Moon Out Tonight

[Steely Tom]

HiRISE, the camera that made that image, is a catadioptric (reflecting) telescope with an aperture of 50 cm (19.7 inches) and speed of f/24, which means it is designed to be a very high-power telescope (as opposed to a wide-angle camera).

Its resolution is one microradian, or about 0.2 arc seconds. Its image sensor is an array of line-scan CCD arrays, with a total aggregate width of many thousands of pixels (the exact number depends on the wavelength of light being detected). Because it uses line-scan sensors, HiRISE's transverse resolution is unlimited; it is scanned by moving the entire camera, which normally happens as a result of the orbital velocity of the Mars Orbiter satellite.

Under normal circumstances, each pixel of HiRISE corresponds to a square about one foot on a side when projected onto the surface of Mars.

It was conceived by Alan Delamere of Ball Aerospace, and designed by Mr. Delamere and Professor Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona. From idea to launch took about twenty years.

Alan Delamere was described by one of his colleagues as "radically creative."

Ball Aerospace is a division of Ball Corporation, the same company that makes Mason jars.

[ctdonath2]

Looks pretty dead. Excessive amounts of dihydrogen monoxide; nothing could live there. Let’s send our intrepid explorers elsewhere, Marvin.