In the words of Phil Plait, “Holy. Haleakala. The simple and sheer amazingness of this picture cannot be overstated. Here we have a picture taken by a camera on board a space probe that’s been orbiting Mars for six years, reset and re-aimed by programmers hundreds of millions of kilometers away using math and science pioneered centuries ago, so that it could catch the fleeting view of another machine we humans flung across space, traveling hundreds of million of kilometers to another world at mind-bending speeds, only to gently – and perfectly – touch down on the surface mere minutes later.
The news these days is filled with polarization, with hate, with fear, with ignorance. But while these feelings are a part of us, and always will be, they neither dominate nor define us. Not if we don’t let them. When we reach, when we explore, when we’re curious – that’s when we’re at our best. We can learn about the world around us, the Universe around us. It doesn’t divide us, or separate us, or create artificial and wholly made-up barriers between us. As we saw on Twitter, at New York Times Square where hundreds of people watched the landing live, and all over the world: science and exploration bind us together. Science makes the world a better place, and it makes us better people.”
Truth.
I was stunned to find out that most/many people are unaware that Mars has polar ice caps. Here are three images; the first is the northern cap, Planum Boreum, from the Viking-1 mission, the second is Planum Boreum from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and the third is the southern ice cap (Planum Australe, which sublimates each year) taken from Earth through a small 8” telescope.
Keep looking up!
A dust devil on the Martian surface, taken by the MRO. 30m across and up to 800m high, not so much a dust devil as a massive tornado!
Check out this cool picture of the Noachis Terra on Mars. Sand dunes and ripples demonstrate the universality of physical processes. That is why, if you ever take a planetary science class, you will often find yourself studying the geology on Earth.
This frame is about 1km across and taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
