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Interesting photos from that link:

Original photo

Context photo

As noted by one of the posters on that site, the photo is taken on a huge slope...

Not sure what filters that image used, but this version looks more like NASA's "true color" images

http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/pds/257/1P153927090RA D37MIP2273L257C1.JPG

Suddenly doesn't look much like water any more does it...

(Cheers to unmannedspaceflight.com for that pic)

http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/pds/257/1P153927090RA D37MIP2273L257C1.JPG same image with a different colour filter applied, looks more like sand or dust!

The blue is digitally added. This comment on the thread linked above to the original image.

According to the thread the image was taken on a slope, meaning relative to the rover the surface in the picture appears flat. Relative to a flat plain this surface is fairly slanted, so if this was a liquid one would think it would appear to be flowing. My guess is that it is just sand. If you have ever seen a desert that can get windy the sand in some areas can look incredibly smooth like a liquid would. I think this may be what happened here.

Gosh, what next? The properties of fluids are the same on Earth and Mars.

I know you weren't really trolling, but seriously you need to reexamine your understanding of the scientific process.

The fact that there are dustdevils on mars isn't new - the scientists I worked with on MER had concluded that there were plenty nearby from satalite imagery (they seem to be formed often in craters and leave trails, as seen in some unreleased satalite imagery). We've had prior observations of effects of dust devils, as described in this paper, and even a few other movies (see bottom of page), but this is our first look *UP CLOSE*. (also of note is this satellite image from the Mars Global Surveyer)

The point here is not "we discovered dustdevils on mars, look pretty picture," the point is that the assumption that physics works the same on mars allows us to properly interpret this *much* better imagery of dust devils and come up with a lot of useful information about the atmosphere, wind speeds, grain size, etc.

I think this attitude of "gee whiz this isn't new" is why a lot of good science doesn't get funded these days. Just because something is "obvious" doesn't make it right, and just because an experiment or observation is not novel does not mean we have nothing to learn from it!

it clear we aren't going anywhere other than perhaps Iran or some other third-world country

Hmmmm.....

Iran:
(image)

Mars:
(image)

I sense a conspiracy in the making...

I still believe Daniel Crotty's work on puzzling together those from their raw data was better. :-)

His mosaics

They also post a link to the imaging site here. On this page, however, does anyone else thing that pictures two through to seven or so look a lot like Huygens hit a 'something' in the atmosphere which then slides off the lens later in the photo series? Why would this image remain static while the others do not, otherwise?

Strange stuff!

This picture is prety strange, it doesen't fit to the other ones at all. I wonder what it is...
http://mars.lyle.org/titan/contrast/triplet.202.jp g

...but I didn't find it after reading the 40 highest-rated comments here. And I really was unimpressed with the 3 initial photos they showed (and as of this writing, it's still ALL they are showing). So, after hunting around, I found all the raw images online. The first 6 or 7 pages didn't do much for me, but around page 22, I started to see the landmass (the 2 rightmost images). And around page 27 (again, the rightmost photos) I start to see the horizon shots, with the curve of the moon visible (or possibly it's just the camera lens causing the effect I see), and the landmass stretched out in front of me.

Finally. Some real photos, with land that I can decipher. Cool!

And, uh, too bad there were no critters running around.

...but I didn't find it after reading the 40 highest-rated comments here. And I really was unimpressed with the 3 initial photos they showed (and as of this writing, it's still ALL they are showing). So, after hunting around, I found all the raw images online. The first 6 or 7 pages didn't do much for me, but around page 22, I started to see the landmass (the 2 rightmost images). And around page 27 (again, the rightmost photos) I start to see the horizon shots, with the curve of the moon visible (or possibly it's just the camera lens causing the effect I see), and the landmass stretched out in front of me.

Finally. Some real photos, with land that I can decipher. Cool!

And, uh, too bad there were no critters running around.

...but I didn't find it after reading the 40 highest-rated comments here. And I really was unimpressed with the 3 initial photos they showed (and as of this writing, it's still ALL they are showing). So, after hunting around, I found all the raw images online. The first 6 or 7 pages didn't do much for me, but around page 22, I started to see the landmass (the 2 rightmost images). And around page 27 (again, the rightmost photos) I start to see the horizon shots, with the curve of the moon visible (or possibly it's just the camera lens causing the effect I see), and the landmass stretched out in front of me.

Finally. Some real photos, with land that I can decipher. Cool!

And, uh, too bad there were no critters running around.

This page has some raw images from the Huygens probe descent onto Titan:

http://spacescience.ca/titan/raw/

This page has the images in more of a gallery format:

http://mars.lyle.org/titan/file1.html

It should be interesting to try doing different sorts of processing on them, like panoramas, contrast-corrected animations, etc. The individual images are triplets, composed of the three camera views.

Someone PLEASE mirror!

But what is this, that is next to the rock?

Is it the heat shield?

It is indeed a spring, one of the 6 "kickoff springs" used to guarantee the heatshield seperated from the rest of the lander. There is another visible in this image:
http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/processed/1P157122779 EFF40A3P2577L234567M1.JPG

They do. The rovers use filters to capture specific (~40 nm) color ranges in 12 individual wavelengths ranging from infrared to blue, which can later be combined to form a near-true-color view of the scene. It is specifically useful for doing analysis of the spectrum of light thrown by rocks or the sky using 12 points of along the spectrum, instead of just 3 which you would get from a standard red/green/blue camera.

Here is a color image of the heatshield taken on sols 326 and 328 taken through the 6 visible light filters (albeit from the auto-contrasted jpgs released by NASA, so it is not true color)

I'm not much of a photographer, but I did happen to get into the VIP section, right in front of the actual takeoff. If you'd like to see some of my picts check out:
http://www.lyle.org/~jwick/spaceshipone_jw/index.h tml

The launch was quite exciting! I've been working for NASA on MER but I feel very strongly that it is important to have a commercial/private interest in space (indeed, I intend to be a space tourist one day, if I get the chance).

One of the Scaled Composites guys gave myself and my friends a piece of the material they made part of the ship out of... it's incredibly light and strong.

Congrats to the team, and to all of those there to witness this history making event. We still have a long way to go before we can drive to a spaceport and pick up a ticket, but at least private spaceflight is now a very real thing.

Cheers,
Justin

It would be regrettable if this annoucement only amounted to "We have evidence from the rock layers / erosion patterns / spherule concretions that water must have been involved in the creation of these features", as we already know that water can today exist in liquid form on 30% of the planet's surface, and that water has been active on the Martian surface in the recent geological past (source). But given NASA's reluctance regarding all things water-related, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it's going to be.

The really interesting stuff is the things they have avoided talking about, like the "mud-like texture". But most interesting in terms of water evidence is the trench dug by Opportunity. If you look at the fairly solid wall of soil at the right you will see a slightly dark streak on it. That streak leads directly to a puddle on the floor. Given this visual evidence, and the structure of the soil, it is pretty obvious that this stuff is wet.

The simple reality is that Mars is a wet planet. The oceans didn't just vanish, they went underground into the porous subsurface world of Mars. That's where the real action is, not on the UV-sterilized surface. All we see of Mars' underground water world on the surface is the occasional puddle or pond, the black streaks and Malin's famous gullies. If you want to see Martian life, find wet underground regions with geothermal activity.

It would be regrettable if this annoucement only amounted to "We have evidence from the rock layers / erosion patterns / spherule concretions that water must have been involved in the creation of these features", as we already know that water can today exist in liquid form on 30% of the planet's surface, and that water has been active on the Martian surface in the recent geological past (source). But given NASA's reluctance regarding all things water-related, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it's going to be.

The really interesting stuff is the things they have avoided talking about, like the "mud-like texture". But most interesting in terms of water evidence is the trench dug by Opportunity. If you look at the fairly solid wall of soil at the right you will see a slightly dark streak on it. That streak leads directly to a puddle on the floor. Given this visual evidence, and the structure of the soil, it is pretty obvious that this stuff is wet.

The simple reality is that Mars is a wet planet. The oceans didn't just vanish, they went underground into the porous subsurface world of Mars. That's where the real action is, not on the UV-sterilized surface. All we see of Mars' underground water world on the surface is the occasional puddle or pond, the black streaks and Malin's famous gullies. If you want to see Martian life, find wet underground regions with geothermal activity.

My site was one of the past ones featured on Slashdot.

Unfortunately, all data isn't released. There is not radiometric data or pointing data for pictures, spectrometer data, etc.

And NASA puts a hold on images they plan to use later for press conferences-- e.g. the individual PanCam pictures of the parachute and backshell weren't released. This goes directly against the promises they made pre-mission.

Those interrested in images from the rovers should perhaps bookmark
Mars Exploration Rover Imagery.
Nice and updated page with all the latest images.

Any that incorporate infrared will render it purple-y. The blue chip is very reflective in the infrared spectrum.. and with 2 for most of the red value, infrared is incorporated into it.

That's why it's called pseudocolor, because the redpoint is off by 30-60nm depending on exposure. It doesn't mess things up much except for things that have a ton of infrared reflectivity. I also have "nearcolor" pics that take L2/3/4/5/6 filtered pictures together and combine them to be really close perceptually what people would see. But there have not been any qualifying sets of images downlinked from Opportunity yet, nor will there be many. (L3/L4 aren't so useful for science, so it's only things that they're really interested in that they take pictures with all filters---and that thus I can do it for).

See nearcolor pics near the top of my site.

For more good stuff, go to my site...

Featuring COLOR IMAGES from Opportunity, before JPL has made them available. (By aggregating 2/5/6 filters together to simulate what the human eye would see).

Also, there are stereo anaglyphs up of the lander.

For more good stuff, go to my site...

Featuring COLOR IMAGES from Opportunity, before JPL has made them available. (By aggregating 2/5/6 filters together to simulate what the human eye would see).

Also, there are stereo anaglyphs up of the lander.