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Stunning New Pictures of Mars Moon Phobos

Posted by kdawson on from the astro-photography-porn dept.

Smivs writes "NASA has released some detailed new images of Mars's moon Phobos. The photos are dominated by Stickney Crater, a 9-km (5.5-mi.) depression that is the largest feature on Phobos. The images were captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Some researchers claim that the unique, fist-sized Kaidun meteorite, which fell to Earth at a Russian military base in Yemen in 1980, is a piece of Phobos." Here's a link to all the new images.

41 comments

  1. any sign by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

    Any sign of the leather goddesses?

    --
    This guy's the limit!
    1. Re:any sign by njfuzzy · · Score: 1

      Alas, the Scratch and Sniff nature of the images doesn't transmit via the Internet, so we may never know.

      --
      My Photography - http://ian-x.com
      The Deathlings (comic) - http://thedeathlings.com
    2. Re:any sign by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      After scratching near your monitor all night, I wouldn't want to sniff what's there.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    3. Re:any sign by LanMan04 · · Score: 1

      Any sign of the leather goddesses? Wow, and I thought I was the only one who remembered that particular text-adventure game.
      My Dad had it on an unlabeled floppy in a drawer somewhere. Being like 11 and playing that game was great. ;)
      --
      With the first link, the chain is forged.
  2. HEY! by bigattichouse · · Score: 1

    I don't see one single leather goddess! I feel so let down.

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    meh
    1. Re:HEY! by Uthic · · Score: 2, Funny

      They forgot to enable lewd mode

  3. Larger Pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here is a direct link to the Hi-Res image, warning, it's 13 megs in size.

    http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/gallery/press/20080409b/PIA10369.jpg

    1. Re:Larger Pic by somersault · · Score: 2, Funny

      Is it NSFW? I don't need to get caught viewing a dominatrix crater being penetrated by a fist sized lump of rock

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      which is totally what she said
    2. Re:Larger Pic by Missing_dc · · Score: 1

      Damn, "They" edited out the parked cylindrical spacecraft shown in the Russian photos.

      --
      How amazed would you be to suddenly find that you just forgot what I wrote and you needed to reread my post.... again.
  4. Cool! by tuxgeek · · Score: 1

    Phobos looks to be not much more than just another egg shaped asteroid like object. Cool photo though!

    --
    "Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
    1. Re:Cool! by 4D6963 · · Score: 1

      Phobos looks to be not much more than just another egg shaped asteroid like object.

      Another egg shaped asteroid? Got any example of these? All the asteroids we've seen from pretty close up have had interesting shapes like Phobos'. The only asteroid I can think of as even remotely egg shaped is the very round Ceres, which is probably round because it's huge. And actually it's now considered a minor (or dwarf?) planet like Pluto.

      --
      You just got troll'd!
  5. Preposterous by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 4, Funny

    I didn't spend all these years training to fight demons through Phobos' and Deimos' labs and processing facilities for nothing.
    I remember one time, I was knee deep in blood... It was hell..
    Tibor

    --
    If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
    1. Re:Preposterous by somersault · · Score: 1

      Good thing you weren't able to look down towards your knees

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      which is totally what she said
    2. Re:Preposterous by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 1

      Haha, no we didn't have the technology for something like that.
      Boy in those days, the amount of energy needed to accomplish something like that would make the earth quake!

      --
      If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
    3. Re:Preposterous by somersault · · Score: 1

      I'm glad that they soon worked out how to do it using only the energy output of a mouse, though those quakes could be quite fun if you had friends around

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      which is totally what she said
  6. i see pictures of panic and horror by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    did they catch any pictures of fear and terror as well?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  7. pictures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I see a link that says "detailed new images of Mars's moon Phobos." I expect more than one low res picture you know?

  8. can we get a google maps version please? by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Funny

    so i can get driving directions?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  9. Late Breaking News: by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 5, Funny
    The community heaved a collective *brzech* of relief today as K'Breel, Speaker for the most Illustrious Council of Elders, reassured the citizens that the latest encroachment by the evil blue planet had borne no fruit for the disgusting inhabitants thereof.

    "Gentle Citizens, do not be alarmed! While it is true that the devices of terror sent by the horrific inhabitants of the sinister blue planet have managed to capture high-resolution images of our fortress satellites, their pathetic, oxygen-poisoned nerve clusters have not the wit to comprehend what they have seen! The poor primitive fools still believe they are gazing at natural moons with their hideous, liquid-filled sight organs! Rejoice, noble citizenry! Our plans continue unthreatened!"

    K'Breel then unexpectedly led the crowd of citizens in an impromptu rendition of one of the more recent patriotic hymms: "My planet - accurate or erroneous. ".
    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    1. Re:Late Breaking News: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You seem to know whats going on here. To you I say, "WTF?!" I expected some awed commentary but I got what sound like obscure 70s sci-fi movie references. Please fill me in.

      (I want to be a nerd, I really do.)

    2. Re:Late Breaking News: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I really missed K'Breel. Thought they had punctured his gel-sacks or something... http://www.google.com/search?q=k'breel+site%3Aslashdot.org

    3. Re:Late Breaking News: by mazarin5 · · Score: 1

      It's a running gag that's been going on since at least the rover missions. He hasn't done it for a long time, but it's been sorely missed.

      --
      Fnord.
  10. Yet Another Obligatory Reference by dkleinsc · · Score: 2, Funny

    Relax, they're just scouting out locations for a Union Aerospace Corporation base. Let's hope the teleportation experiments work this time.

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    1. Re:Yet Another Obligatory Reference by mdenham · · Score: 1

      The Gate is the key. The key is the Gate...

  11. KSR was right! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It really does look like a big potato!

  12. Stunning by teebob21 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Absolutely beautiful. Just one more striking image of a rock billions of miles away that makes me feel infinitely tiny. That said, for those who downloaded the full-res view, did anyone else notice the green rocks shown northwest of the southern crater? Scroll all the way to the right, middle of the image to see them. ...wonder what that is?

    --
    khasim (12/9/06): In a blind taste test, more people preferred Coke over the Pepsi that I had previously pissed in.
    1. Re:Stunning by MaDMvD · · Score: 1

      I think I see what you're talking about, as I was wondering myself. Is this it? http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8194/16888739jj2.jpg

    2. Re:Stunning by MaDMvD · · Score: 1

      I think it's closer to only about 35 million miles, not billions...

    3. Re:Stunning by tcolberg · · Score: 1

      Maybe it's an outcropping of uranium, just like in Civilization!

      Video game representations of reality aside, it's either going to be some color distortion due to refraction or it could be some type of green mineral embedded in the surface. Maybe some quartz impacted the surface, scattering the light as photographed?

    4. Re:Stunning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Zooming in, it looks to me like some kind of image artifact rather than a real effect. The MRO has cropped a slight noise problem since it's been in orbit.

      At the same time, note that this is a partially false color image (red, blue-green, and infrared). The color you see there might not be genuine.

    5. Re:Stunning by teebob21 · · Score: 1

      Touche, point taken.

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      khasim (12/9/06): In a blind taste test, more people preferred Coke over the Pepsi that I had previously pissed in.
    6. Re:Stunning by teebob21 · · Score: 1

      That's the spot! Wonder what it could be?

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      khasim (12/9/06): In a blind taste test, more people preferred Coke over the Pepsi that I had previously pissed in.
    7. Re:Stunning by mazarin5 · · Score: 1

      On average, 0.5e11m, or 50 million kilometers.

      --
      Fnord.
  13. Driving directions: by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Up."

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    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
    1. Re:Driving directions: by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

      i lolled. thanks

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  14. Oblig: That's no moon... by TheJerg · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...it's a spac- Wait. It actually IS a moon. Go figure.

    1. Re:Oblig: That's no moon... by MrMacman2u · · Score: 1

      This not the moon you are looking for...

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      This signature is lame.
  15. Phobos, Inverted. by MaDMvD · · Score: 2, Informative

    Check it: http://images31.fotki.com/v1093/fileIXTO/a065a/4/413321/6115355/PhobosInverted.jpg

  16. Whoa.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Imaging how much scordite that thing must have!

    1. Re:Whoa.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A rock that big could only be veldspar...