Astronomy News
Dr. Neal Sumerlin keeps us abreast of happenings in the night sky and the progress of the new Belk Astronomical Observatory.
Blogs we recommend
Other Posts:
Describing the Indescribable (07/22/2009)
Total Solar Eclipse in July (06/07/2009)
Other Earths (05/20/2009)
Save Those Old Computers! (04/13/2009)
Saturn in 2009 (04/13/2009)
The New Worlds (02/04/2009)
Christmas at the Moon (12/10/2008)
Potpourri of Space News (12/10/2008)
Night Sky Happenings (11/17/2008)
Power Sources for Space Probes (11/17/2008)
R.I.P., Mars Phoenix Lander (11/17/2008)
Pictures of Planets (11/17/2008)
Ice Geysers of Enceladus (09/22/2008)
Constellations (09/22/2008)
Happy Equinox Day! (09/22/2008)
More News from Mars (06/04/2008)
Search (but no rescue) on Mars (05/20/2008)
We lose a friend (05/03/2008)
Quiz winner! (04/29/2008)
Seeing and Patience (04/22/2008)
The World at Night (03/31/2008)
New Stars that are Really Old (03/14/2008)
Latest From Planetary Spacecraft (03/14/2008)
Lunar Eclipse Update (02/18/2008)
Aiming a Telescope (02/18/2008)
Observatory Update (02/04/2008)
Venus and Jupiter in the Morning (02/04/2008)
Total Lunar Eclipse (02/04/2008)
Messenger Mission to Mercury (02/04/2008)
Play With Pictures from Mars!
Posted on 04/13/2009If you ever need an example of the amazing age in which we live, consider this. Images of the surface of Mars are provided each day by two surface rovers at two different locations on the planet. These are made available on the internet in near-real time to anyone. These images are raw, uncalibrated, compressed-to put it simply, they are not yet ready for prime-time. Yet a dedicated band of amateurs often processes these images and provides color mosaics overnight. Steve Squyres, the Principal Investigator for the twin Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, has said, "Frequently I'll get up in the morning and the first place I go online is unmannedspaceflight, because I know I'm going to get mosaics rather than just raw images [that I would get] if I go through all the firewalls to JPL [Jet Propulsion Laboratory], because nobody in Pasadena has even woken up yet." The web site he is referring to is http://unmannedspaceflight.com.
This is not a site for the casual browser. If you are familiar with sites like this, you won't need any instruction from me; if you are not, it would take more space than I have! Sorry. But just to give you some idea of the cool stuff available, here is an image that made the cover of Aviation Week and Space Technology in November 2005. This is NOT a NASA image-this was created entirely by dedicated space and computer geeks. Let's hear it for the folks who truly run the world! And I know that description fits some of the readers of this newsletter. Go to it, y'all.
http://www.aviationnow.com/media/pdf/spirit_p618f_col_a2b.pdf
(I freely admit to stealing this topic (as well as the Steve Squyres quote above) from an article in the January/February Planetary Report, the publication of the Planetary Society. I have plugged them before, but there is simply no better source of information about the solar system, and no better way to support the sorts of activities they describe, than to become a member. http://www.planetary.org)