Nice view, indeed. I'm wondering if they plan to drive to the *tip* of Cape Desire.

This is a 2x2 pancam mosaic of Cape Desire (L2 channel only, half-res):
Click to view attachment

Two pointings, probably covering the left part of the cape, are still missing.

Epic rock at the base here...

Click to view attachment

FWIW, the plan for sol 1061 includes a similar pancam mosaic (6 pointings, L257R2) as this one taken on sol 1060. Then, driving again.

Color stitchers and anaglyph wizards, prepare your tools.

Here is what we have so far:



James

Looks like L2 only to me...

Sol Seq.Ver ETH ESF EDN EFF ERP Tot Description
----- -------- --- --- --- --- --- ---- -----------
01061 p1151.04 2 0 0 2 0 4 front_hazcam_idd_unstow_doc
01061 p1154.01 2 0 0 2 0 4 front_hazcam_idd_unstow_doc
01061 p1201.07 2 0 0 2 0 4 front_haz_penultimate_1bpp_pri17
01061 p1212.09 2 0 0 2 0 4 front_haz_ultimate_2_bpp_pri15
01061 p1301.06 2 0 0 2 0 4 rear_haz_penultimate_1bpp_pri17
01061 p1311.07 2 0 0 2 0 4 rear_haz_ultimate_1_bpp_crit15
01061 p1585.00 4 0 4 0 0 8 navcam_cloud_4x1_dwnsmp_RVRAz_calstart
01061 p1962.02 10 0 0 10 0 20 navcam_5x1_az_45_3_bpp
01061 p2137.06 1 1 0 0 1 3 pancam_cal_targ_L2
01061 p2351.09 6 0 0 6 1 13 pancam_cape_desire_longbaseline_6pos_L2
01061 p2352.09 8 0 0 8 2 18 pancam_drive_dir_4cx1r_L2R2
01061 p2600.10 2 2 0 0 2 6 pancam_tau
01061 p2633.01 4 2 0 0 2 8 pancam_late_tau_L58R48
01061 Total 47 5 4 36 8 100

Yeah, which is annoying as the second mosaic is the right eye of the long baseline and L5&7 are needed for a colour anaglyph to be possible. 'L2 only' should be on the left, JB!

James

Yup. I stand corrected.

Couldn't it be done anyway if you viewed the result with the glasses reversed?

Meanwhile, Oppy moved due north (11m) on sol 1061.


... as expected.

Navcam pics: http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportu...cam/2007-01-18/

Would ne nice to test the new software and try to get to the Dock for the week-end . It seams too far actualy. Did you note this darker ("wet") part in front of us?

> Would ne nice to test the new software and try to get to the Dock for the week-end.

That was exactly what I thought while waiting for the "drive-direction" pancam images. It would be a 30-40m drive, perhaps too much to be exactly at a nice rock in a single drive for IDD work except if using "go & touch".

But it seems to be out of the plans. This is tosol pancam mosaic; the focus is on Cape Desire, meaning that they are planning to drive on that direction tomorrow sol:

Click to view attachment

BTW, the panorama is a blast! What a view!

> Did you note this darker ("wet") part in front of us?

Yup. It might be dark sand accumulated there in a similar fashion as Eldorado.

Very impressive images there. You're very nice

This my own version of Cape Desire :


I can't waiting anymore for the complete imagery set...

Looking forward to seeing all your true-colour versions of this...

Click to view attachment

This is "Stu-colour"

Stu,

how is it possible ?

Looking in the direction of the sun and see the shadow

of the cam in front of you.

jvandriel

I did try this once (for a normal anaglyph as most of the blue/green filters are on the left pancam) but for some reason the result wasn't very satisfactory. Maybe I'll have another go with this.

sigh... well, obviously the Sun is at the top there, and the sunlight is reflecting off Beacon behind Oppy, casting its shadow onto the ground...

(Can't believe I missed that... stoopid stoopid stoopid!!! blame it on a ten hr shift at work...! )

Better?

Click to view attachment

Very nice Stu.

jvandriel


Enjoy your work.

I see now that I was getting confused. I was thinking the about the 1058 and 1060 positions as being the long baseline positions not 1060/1, so colour should be possible with the glasses the right way around. Greyscale for now though...

The baseline is very long, it works well for C1/2 (Hoy) area:

Click to view attachment

But takes quite a bit of distortion to get Cape Desire viewable:

Click to view attachment

James

I keep wanting to use some of these beautiful Victoria pics as my Windows Desktop, but I never see anything that's 1600x1200. Are the actual Rover images smaller than that?

--Greg

Well all the raw images are 1024x1024 but the pans can be huge. For example my version of the Cape Verde pan (the biggest at Victoria so far) is 17039x3000. I'm sure you could resize and crop a whole load of stunning 1600x1200 images out of the mosaics produced so far.

Well, I must have a mind that is quite a bit distorted. That one popped right into view for me, and it was amazing. I compared it side-by-side with the standard short baseline stereo. The vertical exaggeration (for lack of a better term), really added a tactile dimension to that outcrop. I felt as if I could reach in and gauge the depth of erosion between the laminations with my fingernails, or reach into a crevice, feeling for a loose fossil.
Thanks.

I probably should have been clearer. What I meant was *I* had to distort the images quite a bit to make a working anaglyph, removing the need for all of you lot to distort your minds too much.

Glad you enjoyed it.

James

Now I'm confused.
Wasn't the images for the long baseline those from the positions as of sols 1058 and 1060? Perhaps the confusion is because they were actually taken on sols 1060 and 1061 but *before* driving?
-----------
On a different topic, tosol activities (1062) seems to be devoted to pancam imaging only. I won't expect another move until sunday/monday (sols 1064/1065).

No data down from Opportunity today?

Can't find any at the exploratorium or the pancam web.
Anyway, it's not the first time. Don't panic.

Ah sorry about that, it seems I was even more confused than I realized! I assumed that the images that came down were from the long baseline sequence - and they are clearly from after the drive. But those are in fact the "drive direction" images (I hope they don't!). Still, they made for a good *very* long baseline image.

James

From the latest update,
How cool can it get?!

Also two new names: Cabo Anonimo = Cape B2, and Guam = Dock of the bay.

Hmmmm... I doubt the comet will look very impressive from Mars, what with a) Mars being a lot farther away from it than Earth, and the comet appearing much closer to the Sun in the sky as seen from Mars than from Earth, but hey, you never know...

Maybe it won't *look* very impressive, but the *idea* of seeing a comet at all from the surface of Mars is VERY impressive (to me anyway).

1064 it is.

Indeed. I simply find it amazing that our robotic proxies on another planet, originally designed to be remotely controlled geologists have learned new skills, and are now astronomers as well. Surely it's not just not cosmetic. Having a longer baseline for astronomic observations should add to our knowledge of the orbits, or at least help to better calibrate our instruments.

As for Guam, it just doesn't have the same ring as "sitting on the dock of the bay." I think I'll always remember it with our name.

I seem to recall an old painting that showed a major comet from the surface of Mars (Bonestell, Ludek Pesek, or William Hartmann?)...selfishly hoping here that the pics of McNaught include some Martian horizon, but I have no idea what the viewing geometry will be.

ABSOLUTELY! Couldn't agree more. I was just commenting on the practicalities, that's all. I had a go simulating it on STARRY NIGHT and to Oppy the comet will be very close to the Sun in a very bright dawn sky...

Click to view attachment

but the comet doesn't actually "pop out" until you turn the sky colour off. I suspect it might not be visible, but with that long tail who knows... No-one would love to see an image of a comet blazing in Mars' dusk sky more than me.

This one?

Comet above Mars

Stu:

Mars is Heaven!

o No wet windy weather
o No bloody dew on your optics
o No light pollution (OK, two moons, but they're not that big)
o No midgies (a Scottish version of Black Fly, hell in the summer)
o No nosy neighbours

OK, there are some disadvantages:

o Dust Devils (whoops, er, 'cleaning events')
o No atmosphere


Bob Shaw

Images from Opportunity are down, nothing obvious in them... BUT remember the images we get are contrast stretched considerably, so it might be there in the original.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...cam/2007-01-20/

I used those new images to look instead at the distant hills. This is a composite of all six frames, enlarged 200% and merged. The real data might show some proper detail on the hills.

Phil

Click to view attachment

That's the one; thanks, Stu! It's actually by Kim Poor, then.

To be geographically, historically, and pedantically accurate, Magellan landed at Guam in Umatac Bay, his first landfall after crossing the Pacific. Fort Soledad was the Spanish fort built on the point that overlooks the bay.

I think "Umatac Bay" has a nice ring to it, but then I have my own prejudice on this.

Here is the L0 Navcam panoramic view from Sol 1061.

jvandriel

This is three of the 9 L4/R1 pairs shot just before sunrise on sol 1063.

I tried a number of processing tricks, but didn't see a hint of McNaught. Looks like the 12 bit data will be required -- if in fact the 2665 observation was an attempt to image the comet.

Yeah, I can see nothing in Spirit's attempt as well. Lost in the dusty haze of twilight. But the good news is McNaught's elongation from the sun is increasing rapidly now (for Mars too) and if it doesn't dim too rapidly and if the rover team decides so, we may get another chance.

Oppy drove again on sol 1064 (navcams, pancams).

It was a very short drive (~4m) northwards and looks like it was prematurely aborted.
Both the navcam and pancam mosaics which are taken *after* the drive is finished are centered at 126º but if you look the pancams there is obviously no further driving path on that direction. My opinion is that the initial plan was to drive by the bay and stop right at Cape Desire.

Click to view attachment

Hmmm. I'd expected that they'd make a close inspection of 'the Dock'. My assumption was that it is there because of slippage into the crater, and there might well be some interesting strata there.

I expected the same thing; if the "dock" is exposed from slumpage, then it's mostly unaltered from the impact and would be an easy first sample of upper layer rock that we can be sure wasn't part of the debris apron.

I wonder if the drive aborted because Oppy got nervous so near the edge?

I wouldn't rule out the dock yet. It could be the next target after Cape Desire.
Let's see what happens (tomorrow?).

Here is the panoramic view from Sol 1064.

Taken with the L0 Navcam.

Great driving. Very close to the rim.

jvandriel

Look at this jutting rock! I hadn't noticed it in the Navcam. Wonderful!

I hope you are right, Tesheiner. If Opportunity does not actually visit the outcrop, I would really like to see some Pancams in its direction at the closest approach. I hate to go out on a limb like this, but that outcrop really looks much like the other ejecta we've seen.

Probably one of the most unweathered rocks lie...inside