First Stereograms of Mars from Spirit

An anonymous reader writes "NASA has made the first stereo image pairs from Spirit available. I've made stereo anaglyphs and arranged the full-size images side-by-side for stereo viewing. These are from the low-res black and white hazard avoidance camera, but still very cool. Anxiously awaiting the first stereo pairs from the panoramic cameras!"

I just don't get it

I've been crossing my eyes for half an hour and I still can't see any damn beagle!

Re:I just don't get it

• I've been crossing my eyes for half an hour and I still can't see any damn beagle!

That's because it's a sailboat! [imdb.com] ... deek

Re:These pictures

That's because the high-gain antenna wasn't deployed until last night, and these pictures were sent before then.

Anaglyphs aren't generally done in color anyway -- it can work but only with certain "neutral" tones that are the same brightness through both red and green/cyan cellophane used in 3D glasses -- because the colors in the color photo can interfere with the anaglyphic process and skew the brain's perception of the 3D effect. Color pictures of Mars are a no-no - you DO NOT use images of red or green/blue objects or you'll ruin the effect entirely as one eye will see the red/blue objects much more brightly than the other. For this reason, Sports Illustrated Magazine's special issue for the Olympics a few years ago ran an apology for not having any anaglyphic shots of the Chinese athletes ... because they wore red uniforms.

Step one in the process I use to make anaglyphs: Strip out color (convert to greyscale). I work in an electron microscopy research lab and we process nearly everything into anaglyph format, so I do this all the time. You can fiddle with the gamma/brightness/contrast all you want, but color is a no-no. This means that when I make my own color anaglyphs (with better alignment than the ones linked in the article) -- looking forward to the high-res shots -- the color goes poof before ANYTHING else gets done to the images.

Extremely cool

The parallel approach works for me and it's very cool. Much better than the ugly red/blue tint that you get with the anaglyphs. The cross-eyed approach just makes my eyes hurt.

You just have to let your eyes relax and just sort of nudge the two images into convergence.

The only problem is convincing your friends and family that it works and trying to instruct them how to do it.

Re:Extremely cool

If you put your finger 3 inches from your eyes, and stare at it, your eyes will look and feel crossed. That's how it will sorta feel if you do the cross-eyed method. If you stare far away, say, at a distant landmark, your eyes do the opposite of crossing, they spread out. This is sorta how parallel feels.

For more detail, the parallel is where your left eye looks at the left image, and your right eye looks at the right image (which is why they call it parallel, if you were to draw lines from your eyes to the picture they're looking at, you'd have to parallel lines).

The cross-eyed is the opposite. If you were to draw lines from eyes to picture, you'd see them cross.

In my opinion, cross-eyed method is easiest. If you can cross you eyes on two images, and you have enough eye control to force one "phantom" image to lay on top of another "phantom" image (from your other eye), bingo, it'll automatically work. It also has the nice bonus of being able to "touch" what you see. It also lets you cross-eye stuff many many inches apart, while parallel only lets you do maybe 3 inches max.

Re:Extremely cool

Most people preferentially free fuse cross-eyed: the right eye focuses on the left-hand image and vice versa. Some people, however, can free fuse in parallel: the right eye focuses on the right-hand image, the left eye on the left-hand image. Colleagues of mine who could do both told me that parallel fusion gave them less of a headache than cross fusion.

Damn it

Damn it, I was almost being productive. But now I have to run around looking for my red and blue glasses.

Mars: Reach out and touch it.

Everytime I look at those new images, I can't help but just think how simple it would be to just send a craft over there and do a maned mission.

Surly it would be a lot easer then for sailers to sail around the world in the 1500s in comparison today. I think the technology is there, all we need is some human drive with those willing to risk their own life. Of course, the US...which based all of our major achivements is based on risk. But now days, the mere thought of death will totally can a project.

Personally, I would love to take a trip to mars. To hell with the "risks". To me, it would be worth it!!

Re:Mars: Reach out and touch it.

It's amazing how simple things seem when you don't have to do it.

You're in management, right? ;)

Let's Go to Mars!!!

You do realize, don't you, that people sailed around the world in the 16th Century. On a regular basis. Not all of them made it. Many died. On each voyage. We didn't know how to desalinate water then. We didn't have radio then. Hell, we didn't know about sanitation then. Doctors didn't wash their hands for another 300 years still. Even a simple thing like vitamin C to prevent scurvy was centuries off...

But still people did it. They explored. Because they know the long term payoff was there. And that there were willing souls ready to go now... and that the rewards and the victory go to the strong and the brave. The timid sit back and let others collect.

...or do you think the Chinese are faking it when they say they are going to the moon by 2020? Do you think they aren't planning to go to Mars and mine the astroids? This is China, where millions have been displaced in the last few years -- entire cities moved -- for a DAM that is being built ... today! You don't think they plan ahead? Shouldn't we?

Rome faltered when it got soft. It became brittle. The people were interested in bloody spectacles... infighting and political intrigue took over in the Senate. Then Barbarians with a different religion attacked -- Of course Rome could always defeat them -- but again and again they attacked until finally the capital fell.

Just a random historical bit of trivia to throw at the end of my rant... It wasn't supposed mean anything...or maybe it was. Look, all I know is that someone from our generation needs to start inspiring people. Let's go to Mars and stop worrying so much, OK? Humanity NEEDS this and people are tougher than you think.

One way is easy.

A one way trip I am sure would be do-able. Leaving out the "get back home" part makes things MUCH more simple. However, even if the line of volunteers was a mile long, todays policitally correct enviornment and would not let the brave souls make the trip. I think NASA should throw the idea of a "one-way mission to Mars(TM) in three years" into the news and see what happens.

Manned Missions to Mars in 2006!

You'd think it was worth it only if you survived.

Ask yourself this question... the people who go on Fear Factor... the people who fly solo across Antarctica... the people who sail across the Pacific alone, with no radio... I bet most of them are in pretty great shape. I bet you could get 1000 of them to volunteer for a manned Mars mission in 2006 in a heartbeat. I bet out of that 1000 -- these are people who climb mountains and run triathalons, remember -- at least 50 or 100 of the candidates would be able to pass a training program and be "able" to fly to Mars. Especially if we build our ships right -- let the machines and the computers do most the work and train these people to do what they already get off on doing: surviving.

When they're there -- they can take pictures of the rocks the mission wants, take the soil samples of the areas the mission asks... things space agencies spend billions for each primitive 100 kg. robot to do one time... Why not instead send out tens of manned missions? Do it right. And sure, we might lose 1 trip out of 3. More at first. I bet ANY of these people would be MORE than willing to go... AND you'd be saving money!!! Tons of money. The first crew that arrived successfully... think of it. Think of the presige. The honor of having your name go down as that man or woman in history? And think of all the experiments they we perform with PEOPLE there... Just imagine! And if they were to arrive home... what it could do for the world...

Does this sound brutal? To me it feels visionary -- it makes just so much common sense; why don't people ever spell it out like this? Let people freely decide if they are willing to take that risk. Here we are, legalizing assisted suicide across the Western world but we don't have the balls to let adventurers sign up for one of the last ULTIMATE adventures???

Other 3-D sets

Hmm. I submitted my own 3-D composites, but mine were rejected and these accepted. But if you'd like to see more of Mars in 3-D, my own stereoscopic pairs are posted here on Re:zine [rezine.org] (Sunday, Jan. 4th, 'Mars In 3-D!'). The last of the four is artificially colorized using color samples from previous Mars expedition photos. Enjoy!

Re:Other 3-D sets

My mind thanks you.... My eyes curse you.

Re:so where's the color photos from JPL?

The Pathfinder/Sojourner mission only had enough energy (they thought) for 7 days of activity on mars, so they planned a tight, fast mission and hurried everything very quickly to make use of the very limited energy. Sojourner landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and these images [sgi.com] were returned to Earth that same day. Of course, the energy supply turned out to last well longer than the planned mission, so the mission was extended. (The last data successfully retrieved from Sojourner was on Sept. 26, 1997.)

Spirit is an entirely different story. The images we've seen so far are just from positioning/navigation cameras which only image in b&w. But I believe the first color images from the high-res, color cameras are due to reach us any time now. We should have high-res color pics sometime today.

Spirit has far better batteries, lots more energy, and a much longer mission schedule. Where Sojourner was expected to run for just 7 days, Spirit and Opportunity are expected to run for 90 days. The mission schedules this time are more deliberate and meticulous.

Today Spirit is going to begin to put down it's wheels and "stand up." But that whole process with take two days. And it won't actually roll off the pad and onto Martian soil until the 9th or 10th day after the landing.

So just have patience. We should see the first color pictures today, and Spirit will start puttering around the surface by the middle of next week.

Failure to provide instant gratification isn't a sign of general failure, nor an indicator of conspiracy. ;)

* Here's the Mars Pathfinder mission web site [sgi.com]

* And here's an overview of the current Spirit & Opportunity missions [nasa.gov].

Wow, just wow

I was looking at those while installing windows2k. After crossing my eyes to see thhose, i tried to read the ms EULS and i'm now blind. thanks /. and ms.

Re:Wow, just wow

You aren't funny.

Since when has that mattered on /.

Stereo images

If you have an nvidia card with the latest 3D stereo drivers you can run 3D LCD shutter glasses (assuming your monitor can run ~120 hz or better) and view JPS images in "real" 3D. All JPS images are are 2 JPGs side by side which the viewer splits in half and displays one half at a time per screen refresh.

I've made a few of my own JPS images simply by taking two pictures with my digital camera a few centimeters offset and combining the two resulting JPGs into one JPS file.

Geek Pr0n

heavy breathing, drooling and a tingling sensation...pure geek pr0n

Re:I'll ask

Okay, where can I get some blue and red 3D glasses in this day and age?

The August 1998 issue of National Geographic came with two pairs, ironically enough to view stereo images as taken by NASA's last successful Mars lander, Pathfinder.

That's what I used to view the current images. So if you know someone with a National Geographic collection dating back that far you can borrow them, or if you're really keen you can head down to your local library, find the issue in question (hopefully with at least one pair of the glasses still inside), take it to an available library internet terminal, bring up the page in question, and view away.

Yaz.

In a day and age like this...

In the age of HDTV, MPEG4, and THX; I am glad to know that stereo images still play a role in science. *g*

A FAKE?!?!?

It looks like they dropped this Mars explorer out somewhere between Palmdale and Lancaster, CA. In fact... I think I can make out a meth-lab trailer in the distance.

Anaglyphs?

Isn't that what they call tatoos on your...

Almost every picture from Spirit is a pair

I had found a page of the raw images from Spirit earlier today, and every picture from the rover was one of a pair -- it makes sense, because all the cameras are stereo cameras. It was really quite interesting to see the images in 3D as it showed that the ground has gently rolling hills (dune-like) and is not nearly as uniformly flat as it appears in the monocular images.

Note that the cameras are about a foot apart in most cases, about 5 times the spacing between your eyes, so the 3D is exaggerated by the same amount (alternatively, you can think that it makes the world look 5 times as small.) It's amazing what the third dimension gives you.

Sadly, the amount of JPEG compression on these early images adds a huge amount of noise, that isn't apparent in the single images but makes the stereo pair look very noisy indeed. One would hope that once the high-gain antenna is configured, they can start sending far less compressed images.

The other sad thing is that I lost the URL of the raw images page :(

thad

What's most interesting to me is ...

... that you can see the extent to which the airbags are still inflated, and get a sense of which egress route is better than others. At least one of those airbags is still quite puffed up.

I prefer the parallel images to the cross-eyed ones. Crossing your eyes just hurts, but relaxing them and focusing them offscreen doesn't at all, you can do it forever practically if you can get a lock on the right amount to relax.

A good way to view the side by side images

Take two toilet paper spindle tubes and place one over each eye. Then put the tubes in contact with each image. This ensures that each eye is only viewing the correct image.

When your wife/GF comes in asks what the hell you are doing- tell her you are looking for martians on the Intra-Web. Watch her leave the room- quickly.

Re:A good way to view the side by side images

When your wife/GF comes in asks what the hell you are doing- tell her you are looking for martians on the Intra-Web.

But what do I do if they BOTH walk in? ;)

Re:Cross eyed vs. parallel stereo vision?

The cross-eyed pairs are where your left eye looks at the right picture and your other eye looks at the left picture. On the linked story page, these are the two left-most images.

I think the parallel stereograms (left image->left eye, right image->right eye) are easier and more comfortable to view because there is less perspective distortion as each eye can be directly in front of the part it needs to see. The two center images on the page make a parallel stereo pair. To view these, just look at some imaginary point several feet behind your display. When you do this, everything close to you will appear in double. Relax your eyes and adjust them so the two stereo images converge (you may have to tilt your head a little to get them perfectly horizontal). When the images overlap enough, your eyes will automatically "lock on" and a glorious patch of 3D will appear!

Why does this seem familiar?

Didn't Popular Science publish 3-D photos taken by the Viking mission to Mars [nasa.gov]in the 1970s?

Oh, by the way, here's the link I found that page at [nasa.gov]. Just leave the Karma on the dresser.

Build your own stereoscope to view these

Well, as I posted before I cant see these things without a Stereoscope, if you dont have an antique stereoscope lying around like I do

I found this HERE [yesmag.bc.ca] and HERE [funsci.com] is a bit better one (more like mine:)

The second one gives a couple of different types , the 3x9 is for using cards like I made for mine or viewing the old cards from before like 1900 ish.

Jiggy-Vision

I've created a quick Jiggy-Vision view [danielroot.com] of one of the sets.

Bounce Impacts?

Shouldn't we be able to see some kind of impacts from the craft bouncing along the surface? Or would wind have destroyed them already?

NASA vs Slashdot

NASA posted an image gallery? The battle is set now The might of a slashdotting vs the awsome power of NASA's servers who will win? compulsively refresh their page to find out

Quicktime VR Composite

Quicktime VR available on SpaceRef here [spaceref.com].

I love it...

I love it. It's the year 2004. We have sucessfully landed another probe on mars, and we're all hunting around in our junk drawers for 50's style 3D glasses.

I just hope we don't find any life on mars with this mission or we'll all be looking for tin foil to wrap around our heads.

I don't see stereo images...

I believe the original poster is mistaken, or I'm not seeing it. The little square images are parts of the mosaic which comprise the panorama. They are NOT taken with the stereo camera as far as I can tell.

Here is the GOOD INFO on Spirit Rover and Mars

I've been poking around for hours trying to find photos, information, etc., and realized that it's very hard to find the good stuff, but that a LOT of it is out there. So I made this page (address below) and will continue to maintain it. It has (among other things) links to:

• history on ALL past Mars attempts (those poor soviets...)
• *many* JPL and NASA pages, diagrams, videos, and photos
• info on sterescopic photos
• Sterescopic layout of Spirit's first round of photos
• Quicktime VR of the Spirit's panoramic view
• etc.

Here is the page:
2004 Mars Exploration Rover Mission History and Highlights:
http://axonchisel.net/etc/space/mars-exp-rover-hig hlights.html?s=sd [axonchisel.net]

Nav Cam

These are from the low-res black and white hazard avoidance camera

In fact, all but the bottom ones are from the Navigation cameras, which sit on top of the mast as well, just inside of the Hi-Res Panorama Camera. The Nav Cam has a resolution of 512x512, but these pictures were taken with 256x256. The Panorama Cam has a resolution of 1024x1024.

Gusev Crater a poor choice

Any new pictures of the Martian landscape are very cool, but I have to question the choice of the landing site. Gusev Crater may be very interesting in a macro sense, it probably contains lacustrine sediments. But are these sediments accessable to the rover which has landed in the middle of a featureless plain? I doubt it. It is more likely that it will just sample the ubiquitous dust and rock ejecta, again. There may be no significant exposures of the stratigraphic section nearby. When will one of these missions truely explore the fantastic landscape revealed from orbit?

Red Blue and Pfizer

I have a red-blue pair of stereo glasses, So I wish a red-blue pair had also been posted.

My stereo glasses came from inside a science magazine attached to a Pfizer ad about microbes to show the micrographs in 3D.

As an office joke I pasted the glasses which featured the Pfizer logo promenantly to my own ad...

NEW VIRTUAL VIAGRA!
Paint left side of penis blue, paint right side of penis red.
Penis Now Appears Erect!