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Old 11-February-2004, 04:53 PM
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Default Pretty pictures from Mars Express

Valles Marineris


[Edited to modify topic title]
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Old 11-February-2004, 06:22 PM
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Very nice!
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Old 11-February-2004, 06:57 PM
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I notice a dark spot at the very bottom of the picture. It looks very much like a shadow. Or a cloud? Or is it some type of artifact on the picture itself?
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Old 11-February-2004, 07:26 PM
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Quote:
I notice a dark spot at the very bottom of the picture. It looks very much like a shadow. Or a cloud? Or is it some type of artifact on the picture itself?
Well that entire bottom part looks rather dim but the features are sharp. So whatever it is it'd be above the spacecraft, and I believe it's high enough that the clouds won't go over it.
As for the dark spot in particular, could it possibly be one of the moons casting a shadow on the planet? I think the craft is too small... just speculating everyone, this doesn't mean I actually know what I'm talking about!
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Old 11-February-2004, 11:16 PM
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Very nice picture! =D> =D> =D>


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Old 12-February-2004, 05:11 AM
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You can see crazy amounts of detail on those Mars Express images. They do look a little shiny/glossy though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andromeda321
Quote:
I notice a dark spot at the very bottom of the picture. It looks very much like a shadow. Or a cloud? Or is it some type of artifact on the picture itself?
Well that entire bottom part looks rather dim but the features are sharp. So whatever it is it'd be above the spacecraft, and I believe it's high enough that the clouds won't go over it.
As for the dark spot in particular, could it possibly be one of the moons casting a shadow on the planet? I think the craft is too small... just speculating everyone, this doesn't mean I actually know what I'm talking about!
I've seen it explained on the ESA site somewhere, but I can't remember where exactly. It's in other pictures too ( http://www.esa.int/export/externals/...22_reull_p.jpg is one example).
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Old 12-February-2004, 06:22 AM
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It is a pretty picture. It still looks too green to me.

My first thought on the dark spot was a moon shadow as well. The page didn't say.
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Old 12-February-2004, 06:31 AM
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I remember it saying something like it was a material deposited by some kind of water channel. Thinking back now it might have been one of the video clips on ESA that explained it. Perhaps these images were taken to enhance such features, and the dark shade is simply how these enhanced bits came out.
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Old 12-February-2004, 06:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bad Astronomer
It is a pretty picture. It still looks too green to me.
It looks suspiciously green to me, as well -- but, rather than an artifact of image processing, couldn't that coloration perhaps be due to the chemical constituency of the material? Copper compounds, perhaps? Or would that be whackily inconsistent with what we know of the geology?
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Old 18-February-2004, 05:53 PM
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And another: Olympus Mons caldera
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Old 18-February-2004, 11:30 PM
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Olympus Mons is BEAUTIFUL!

Thanks for the link!

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Old 19-February-2004, 03:22 AM
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Both are absolutely awesome!
=D> =D> =D>

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Old 19-February-2004, 05:31 PM
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Kasei Vallis
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Old 19-February-2004, 09:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ToSeek
Can you imagine what this looked like when it was active!
And I thought the stuff in Hawaii was big.
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Old 19-February-2004, 10:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swift
Quote:
Originally Posted by ToSeek
Can you imagine what this looked like when it was active!
And I thought the stuff in Hawaii was big.
How big were the eruptions? After all part of the reason why that thing is so big is that lack of plate tectonics which moves Hawaii islands away from the hot spot and because the amount of erosion is much less (look at how many obvious craters there are). Is Olympus Mons so big due to less erosion and no plate tectonics to move it away from a hot spot? Or is it so big because the eruptions really were that big? Or was it both?
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Old 19-February-2004, 11:26 PM
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Martian volcanoes are bigger because, as you suggest, there are no plate tectonics to move the volcanoes off the hots spots. The volcanoes were active much longer than Earth volcanoes.
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Old 20-February-2004, 02:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harlequin
Is Olympus Mons so big due to less erosion and no plate tectonics to move it away from a hot spot?
I always heard that it was the lack of plat tectonics, so it just stayed in one spot. The Hawaiian islands are the perfect example of a plate moving over a hot spot. So how big would the single Hawaiian island been if the plate didn't move! I hadn't thought about less errosion, interesting idea. I wasn't particularly thinking of a big, single erruption, but I wonder if there was an exposed lava lake (sea, pond) at the top of the caldera. If it was proportional, it would have been huge.
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Old 20-February-2004, 03:38 PM
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Those cracks in the crater look a bit like stretch marks. Could these be formed by the magma chamber cooling and shrinking?
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Old 20-February-2004, 09:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amadeus
Those cracks in the crater look a bit like stretch marks. Could these be formed by the magma chamber cooling and shrinking?
Probably. Or as the caldera floor continued to settle after the eruption ended.
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Old 21-February-2004, 12:27 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aurora
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amadeus
Those cracks in the crater look a bit like stretch marks. Could these be formed by the magma chamber cooling and shrinking?
Probably. Or as the caldera floor continued to settle after the eruption ended.
There are similar (but MUCH smaller) cracks on the floor of the several caldera floors around Volcano National park in Hawaii.
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Old 01-March-2004, 05:41 PM
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Hecates Tholus
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Old 12-April-2004, 05:04 PM
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Louros Valles
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Old 25-May-2004, 05:27 PM
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Arsia Mons in 3-D
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Old 26-May-2004, 12:55 AM
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What I would give to go hiking in the Valles
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Old 26-May-2004, 12:28 PM
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Its a shame the the success of Mars Express and the wonderful images and data it's returning have been largely ignored following the disaster with Beagle 2. You're left with the ipression that mars Express was little more than a probe to get Beagle 2 to Mars.
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Old 26-May-2004, 03:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EFossa
Its a shame the the success of Mars Express and the wonderful images and data it's returning have been largely ignored following the disaster with Beagle 2. You're left with the ipression that mars Express was little more than a probe to get Beagle 2 to Mars.
If the Mars Express folks would publish more images, I think it would be less of a problem. But it is true that the landers get the lion's share of the attention. Equal rights for orbiters! Ban altitude-ism!
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Old 11-June-2004, 04:08 PM
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Flood Plains on Mars

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These images of fluvial surface features at Mangala Valles on Mars were obtained by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board the ESA Mars Express spacecraft.

The HRSC has imaged structures several times which are related to fluvial events in the past on Mars.
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Old 22-June-2004, 05:56 PM
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Valles Marineris
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Old 23-June-2004, 08:25 PM
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Beagle was a tragedy, but Mars Express is doing an awesome job of picking up the baton and running with it.

I hope they do some 3D fly through animations like they did with the Venus radar imagining data from Magellan.
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Old 09-July-2004, 06:54 PM
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Our monthly image from Mars Express:

Northern rim of Hellas basin
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