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Close Mars Means Close-Up Pictures

Guttata writes " space.com has posted 1 of 2 images taken by Hubble last night, dubbed the best Mars globe photo ever taken. The second image will be posted at 4 p.m. ET. Cool!" aderuwe points to a report on the Hubble site itself. Finally, dpp writes "Space.com is reporting how astronomers using the UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) here at the Joint Astronomy Centre have made what are thought to be the sharpest ground-based images of Mars to date. They'll be studying the spectra of the infrared light to look for the signatures of minerals that would indicate the past presence of liquid water, which could have hosted life."

26 of 284 comments (clear)

  1. Are they smiling? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Any martians in the picture?

  2. Re:Search for life in Europa instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there.

    Man, don't you pay attention?

  3. Re:post processing? by metallikop · · Score: 3, Funny

    Fire up Photoshop, Filter / Sharpen, repeat as necessary.

  4. dammit by jwjcmw · · Score: 5, Funny

    I like this caption better.

  5. Re:Search for life in Europa instead by CausticWindow · · Score: 3, Funny

    That depends on if you're searching for intelligent life or not.

    --
    How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
  6. XXX! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    One chance in a lifetime! See close up XXX pics of Mars's tight, open gorge and giant mounds! This won't happen again so don't miss out!

    Adultcheck Gold required.

  7. Re:Search for life in Europa instead by azzy · · Score: 0, Funny

    America looks like a lost cause, no chance to find intelligent life there. We should, as the parent suggests, concentrate on Europa.

  8. Re:post processing? by frission · · Score: 0, Funny

    have you ever seen Super Troopers? It's easy:
    "Enhance...Enhance..."

  9. Oh My God!!! by Eric+Savage · · Score: 2, Funny

    "proximity to the red planet not equaled in 59,619 years." and "Not until 2287 will the two worlds be so close again."

    So it too 59,619 years to get this close, and it will be as close in 284 years, meaning Mars will crash into the Earth in 285.35 years!!! We're doomed!

    --

    This is not the greatest sig in the world, this is just a tribute.
  10. Wow, what a difference an atmosphere makes by JCCyC · · Score: 1, Funny

    Compare the photos by Hubble and by the UK ground-based telescope. It's like looking at PHP code vs. Perl code.

  11. From the article: by RealityProphet · · Score: 4, Funny
    The south polar ice cap is currently melting and shrinking in size...

    Oh my God! This global warming epidemic is contagious!

  12. Re:Life by danila · · Score: 1, Funny

    Visiting nearby stars is one thing, but why are people so excited about finding some habitable planets in other star systems? What would that mean? That we can colonize world other than Earth? I guess that's interesting in the same way that Newton's Principia proved a lot of things people knew and used practically already.

    I'm far more interested in either travelling to Andromeda Galaxy or visiting another dimensions after we make contact with them. Yes, they're harder, but they would capture the public's attention and are achievable if the public is behind it.

    --
    Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
  13. The face! Not the face! by Channard · · Score: 1, Funny

    Now let's see just how many new 'alien' features -pyramids, etc, your average tinfoil hat wearer spots in these images.

  14. Re:Does it means the martians can also see us? by JeffWhitledge · · Score: 1, Funny

    Don't worry. All the martians can see is our night side. So stay in unlit areas at night, and you should be alright.
    It's the same reason we can't see all of those hot venusian women.

    --
    These comments do express the opinions of my employers, and, personally, I think they're complete rubbish.
  15. The next step by not_a_george · · Score: 3, Funny

    before we go probing around, we need to follow the (updated as of 2000) natural progression for visiting other planets
    1)if planet may contain life
    2)wait for Mcdonalds to build thier first mars location
    3)???
    4)colonize!

    --
    Linux: Helping nerds look smarter since the late 90s.
  16. Re:sharpest ground-based images of Mars to date by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Whats wrong with mars capturing our psyche?

  17. Mission to Mars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    If we could send up a probe with WiFi, and establish a P2P music download site there, I'm pretty sure the RIAA would have a man on Mars within the year to serve subpenas.

  18. Hey! by FrostedWheat · · Score: 2, Funny

    You can see my house from here!

  19. Ice Cap is melting! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    From the article:

    The south polar ice cap is currently melting and shrinking in size.

    See! Further proof of global warming! It's affecting even Mars!

  20. Nonsense by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Funny

    At $5 a carat, is it worth a few hundred dollars to go up there after a gem that we can just grow back home?

    No, if you want people to travel to mars you have to provide a REALLY compelling reason to go there. I propose sending a probe to the surface of Mars whole SOLE PURPOSE is to be loaded with Metallica and Brittney Spears songs and use IP over radio technology to act as a distant P2P node. Then the RIAA with its vast resources will be quick to organize an expedition... the key then is to tie up all of the lawyers destined to travel on the ship in the locker room and stow away ourselves (ala countless bad movies), so as to make the trip more useful and also allowing us to plant ANOTHER P2P node and have it sharing with the other one on Mars, which will greatly increase the rate of violations. This will mean even more launches and tying up in the locker room and so forth, until we have a permanent colony (hopyfully at some point with some decent music brought over by iPod). A side benefit is we have a locker room stuff with bound RIAA legal staff.

    Your solution just made no sense at all. Martian gems? Right.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  21. Re:Search for life in Europa instead by PD · · Score: 3, Funny

    You young kids are so cute when you say things like that!

  22. Wot no canals? by C+A+S+S+I+E+L · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Hubble images are lovely, but I can't make out any of the canals. Perhaps the Hubble needs repairing again.

  23. Look out for thread.... by mattsucks · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now that Mars is at its closest point for thousands of years, we should expect the voracious thread to start appearing in our skies any day now. And us without any dragons to fly .... we're doomed!

  24. Huge staplers live on mars?! by kaltkalt · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was looking at the large, detailed mars pic on the linked site and low and behold, a huge, living stapler with some english words growing on its side appeared and started to stomp around on the planet. I, for one, welcome our new stapler overlords.

    Wait, what's that you say? It was just a tacky, utterly-annoying pop-up advertisement hopping around on my computer screen? Oh. Fuck them then.

    --

    Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
  25. Re:See The Blue Atmosphere? by Razor+Blades+are+Not · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is from the same people who bring you the secret connection between Star Wars Episode I and Mars.

    don't forget those strange anomalies like animals on the pathfinder mission.

    yeah. ok.

  26. Re:Have we become obsessive? by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 2, Funny

    If there was life on Mars before but died out, it's mostly useful to know only in the sense that it might provide further insights to how life originated here, and gives a heck of a boost to the concept that there might be life elsewhere in the Universe. ...and basically to piss off the fundamentalist Christians.