The Mariner Mars Globe

Posted 2013/11/29 12:04 CST | 3 comments

In 1971 I was being trained to work with the airbrush by the map artists at the U.S. Geological Survey's Branch of Astrogeologic Studies in Flagstaff. However, the project I ended up spending about a quarter of a man-year on was a hand-painted map globe of Mars.

Sunset behind Gale's western rim, Curiosity sol 587

Posted 2014/04/14 | 0 comments

A blue halo surrounds the just-set Sun in this 6-image mosaic taken by Curiosity on sol 587 (April 1, 2014). The Sun has just set behind the tall western rim of Gale crater.

Spirit sunrise panorama at Troy

Posted 2014/01/14 | 0 comments

Spirit took this panorama on sol 1984 (August 2, 2009) at a local time of 7:00 a.m. The Sun had risen at 05:47. The originally black-and-white panorama has been hand-colored based on the colors from another, full-color panorama taken at a different time of day.

A sunset postcard and a special shadow from Opportunity

Posted 2012/03/27 | 0 comments

Near sunset on sol 2847 (January 27, 2012), Opportunity gazed backward to the east-southeast and the distant line of peaks that mark the far rim of Endeavour crater. The setting Sun throws very long shadows from the very low-standing ridge that Opportunity, is in turn, standing on. In fact, Opportunity's own shadow is visible, a blurry speck standing on the ridge's shadow.