4-Billion-Pixel Panorama View From Curiosity Rover 101
A reader points out that there is a great new panorama made from shots from the Curiosity Rover. "Sweep your gaze around Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover is currently exploring, with this 4-billion-pixel panorama stitched together from 295 images. ...The entire image stretches 90,000 by 45,000 pixels and uses pictures taken by the rover's two MastCams. The best way to enjoy it is to go into fullscreen mode and slowly soak up the scenery — from the distant high edges of the crater to the enormous and looming Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual destination."
Another use for Curiosity ? (Score:2, Insightful)
If Curiosity's wheels fall off and can't move anymore, there might be another use for Curiosity
As long as the camera still functioning, as long as the power generation unit still functioning, and as long as Curiosity can still send messages back to earth, the rover can be used as a "telescope" stationed at Mars
The air of Mars is clean, with no pollutants, and the sky is clear, VERY VERY CLEAR, out there
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Wait till the next dust storm comes along. Not so clear then.
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the rover can be used as a "telescope" stationed at Mars
Having seen the clear night sky a few times from (mildly) remote areas here on Earth, I can only imagine the view at night on Mars. (sigh)
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I looked up and it looks even less clear than where I am out in the desert. The sun disappears behind the dust well before it hits the horizon. I can't see any stars less than 45 degrees above the horizon. Just because there are no pollutants doesn't mean the sky will be clear.
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I only post where hosts file usage is on topic or appropriate for a solution & certainly NOT IN EVERY POST ON SLASHDOT (like the nutcase trying to "impersonate me" is doing for nearly all of March now, & 170++ times that I know of @ least)... apk
Then stop posting as AC FFS.
it sure would be nice to get a PNG.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Flash player embeds are great and all, but I would rather have a good, high resoluton image that I can span over my multi monitor setup instead as my desktop image.
You know, because I think its cool? I understand that the photographer worked hard to make it, and can release however he damnd well wants, but I would still like this in PNG format.
Re:it sure would be nice to get a PNG.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I am quite awestruck by this, and find that all the cynicism has drained out of me
Re:it sure would be nice to get a PNG.. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:it sure would be nice to get a PNG.. (Score:4, Funny)
But.... that's a JPEG!
(Still saved it anyway though.)
Re:it sure would be nice to get a PNG.. (Score:4, Informative)
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Uh, I did notice. Yes. Thank you captain obvious.
It was however, and image I did not have. So I yanked it. I also noted it was a jpeg, and not a png.
Nowhere did I assert that it was the same image. I didn't feel that it needed to be said.
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Uuum, he *already* has released it as image files. Or what do you think the SWF requests from the server?
Just use Firebug's network tab, to look at the requests, and make a wget command out of it. You're not a Internet child anymore, are you?
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You know, not everyone has the luxury of a full browser + suite of tools to do such things, and get fed the crippleware "mobile versions" of webpages?
Because some of us have to sneak access using mobile devices because of corporate firewalls?
Yeah. That.
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Laptop + "mobile devices" = problem solved.
This wasn't about PNG's, nor "my internets is crap" because the two contradict each other - and the obvious solution, if you weren't trolling, is shown above. ;-)
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While "a" solution, not a workable one in my situation. When I say "sneak", I literally mean it.
We work with proprietary aerospace engineering data and processes, including DoD funstuff.
Seriously, there is no way in hell I can sneak in a laptop. It's hard enough sneaking in a smartphone. I am literally stuck with mobile view webpages until after 2am, and limited to the tools available for an android platform running froyo. It isn- by choice that I play in the pool with orange floaties on, ok?
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While "a" solution, not a workable one in my situation. When I say "sneak", I literally mean it.
We work with proprietary aerospace engineering data and processes, including DoD funstuff.
Seriously, there is no way in hell I can sneak in a laptop. It's hard enough sneaking in a smartphone. I am literally stuck with mobile view webpages until after 2am, and limited to the tools available for an android platform running froyo. It isn- by choice that I play in the pool with orange floaties on, ok?
If you have unusual client side restrictions, then state them when you state your problem or don't whine when someone gives you an "unworkable" solution to your problem.
But if your computer is locked down tightly enough to prevent you from browsing the internet freely, how do you copy images that you've downloaded to your phone over to your dual-monitor desktop computer without violating your employer's security policy? At my company, when we lock down a computer, not only do we restrict webpages to a small
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I email the picture to myself later, once I go home. :D
I log in to the corporate webmail portal, using the crippled browser client, attach the file, and set myself as the recipient.
Pull the image out once I go back to work the next day. It looks for all the world like an internal email.
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I email the picture to myself later, once I go home. :D
I log in to the corporate webmail portal, using the crippled browser client, attach the file, and set myself as the recipient.
Pull the image out once I go back to work the next day. It looks for all the world like an internal email.
Then why don't you just use your home computer to download the images, as others have suggested?
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Because right now I am at work, and I may forget to push the images later. My house is a 50 minute drive away, and I have another 3.5hrs before the buzzer rings, and I can go home.
Pulling the image now keeps it in the phone, so that even if I forget about it, I still have it, and can push it later without incident.
The OP I made was more intended in the tone of "Nasa often offers large PNG files for these kinds of things, even on their mobile version pages. It would sure be nice if this article did the same,
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Naw, Shit happens man.
I didn't mean it in a snarky way, even if the replies came out that way due to responding in kind.
I just like being able to grab the image and keep it. Totally agree about being to pan and zoom on the martian landscape from a POS android phone. Totally diggin it.
I'm glad you submitted the article. :D
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Re:it sure would be nice to get a PNG.. (Score:5, Informative)
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Sweet! Thanks!
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well, it's three years since 'thoughts on flash' and it's steve jobs that's dead, not the ubiquitous and stubborn little plug-in.
who'd have thought it eh!
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Here is FULL uncompressed TIFF image:
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20121109a/PIA16440_McMurdo_Merged_Cyl_L456atc.tif (164Mb)
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You do realize that would be ~ 11gb of data (uncompressed), right? Even assuming that PNG managed an 80% compression, you'd still have more than 2gb of data.
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Yes, I know the filesize will be enormous. Been there, done that with NASA HIRISE images.
I have a 16gb card in the phone, and yank the big image out of it when I go home. I can then resize and reformat the image to suit my own personal needs myself, with an artifact free source. JPEG files meant for webpages look horrible on a high contrast display as the desktop image.
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Flash player embeds are great and all, but I would rather have a good, high resoluton image that I can span over my multi monitor setup instead as my desktop image.
Especially since the controls are backwards.
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Especially since the controls are backwards.
No they're not. Just pretend you're controlling the camera.
NASA provide a good MSL multimedia section (Score:2)
I have just finished doing a music video for a song I have about the Mars rovers [youtube.com]. I was very impressed with the image data that NASA makes available on the Mars Science Laboratory [nasa.gov] - RAW images from cameras as well as annotated images with explanations.
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It looks like one, but it's not a joystick, it's a sundial. NASA uses it to fine tune Curiosity's positioning system
Also, it's a backup RTC for measuring time.
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RTC == RealTime Clock [wikipedia.org]
It has meant that since at last the 1980s that I know of.
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Its your equipment. Works perfectly for me.
What you call artifacting, I call dusty air.
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What you call artifacting, I call dusty air.
Air? On Mars?
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The definition of air is sufficiently broad to include the Martian atmosphere. Mars has wind sufficient to cause dust storms, so there is obviously air of some composition there.
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Sometimes science gives me a woody (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Sometimes science gives me a woody (Score:4, Insightful)
We really do live in the future. I'm looking at a panoramic, high definition landscape of another planet from my couch. How can you not get excited about it?!
People spend all of this time bitching about all the things that are wrong in the world, and they only half-realize all the awesome things that go on such as this. We live in the future and I wouldn't have it any other way.
P.S. Not all of us are male, you insensitive clod. Though the realization that I'm now wetter than Mars from looking at Mars has a certain tinge of irony to it
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We are looking in great detail at the landscape of another planet. Give it another couple of decades and this picture will include astronauts high fiving each other. Ray Bradbury would have had a word or two to say about that.
It looks kinda desolate, tho. Makes one appreciate good ole Terra a little bit more. An inhabitable planet? Wot, wif green an all? Awesome! Let's frack it!
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People spend all of this time bitching about all the things that are wrong in the world, and they only half-realize all the awesome things that go on such as this..
Well yeah, we bitch about THIS world. Awesome stuff may be happening on MARS, but here in this world, there's nothing but suckiness and things going wrong. Must be because there's nothing living on mars to fuck up shit. Dr. Manhattan had it right the first time.
Okay, that started out as a joke making fun of your word choice, but now I've gone from awestruck at the panorama to depressed...
In a year ... (Score:3, Funny)
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'I wish I had a girlfriend half as dirty as this rover!'
They should have written it in teflon or PTFE so it would 'magically' show up on mars. Spent a few million to find which coating would work best.
I know it would be impossible. Have to settle for for the photoshop.
Duct Tape? (Score:2)
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Times are tough? What are you about?
That's NASA's lucky duct tape. You'll find it on any mission.
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It seems like Mars has just been waiting patiently for us to grow up and colonize her.
HIM puhleeze, puhleeze. Some respect for the linguistical testes of the former god of war. Puhleeze. Him.
my first upvote: discussion thread on the new upvo (Score:2, Offtopic)
Not having much success with the new feature: appears there is no thread on the new upvote feature.
So here's the thing. We can use this for good, or we can use this for evil.
Good: Voting up story submissions that don't end in woolly assertions soliciting a lather of unfocused submissions.
Good: Voting down story submissions that leave out critical bits of context as if everyone goes off to immediately RTFA.
Bad: Voting down perfectly geeky submissions because it's just not your particular kink.
Let's raise th
A $2K panorama (Score:2)
Dirty wheels? (Score:2)
So I was noticing how filthy the wheels are... and I'm wondering, if the planets as dry as it's supposed to be, why would dirt be sticking to anything? What's making it sticky? Static? I'm a bit perplexed by what seems to be moist earth rather than desert sands as I'd expect.
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North...? East...? (Score:1)
Population of Earth (Score:2)
That's approximately one pixel per person on Earth.
I'm that rust-colored pixel on that rust-colored rock next to the dusty soil.
I have bettern image viewers than a browser (Score:2)
... so why limit people to browsers?
Wow, the rover! (Score:3, Informative)
Quartz vein? (Score:2)
That looks like quartz veins on the horizontal lying rock about north east by east. I wonder if it is.
The Sun (Score:1)
Anyone else? (Score:2)
I like the guys enthusiasm, and I share a very small percent of his views, but I honestly cannot take him seriously at all. I've never seen someone so intelligent be so purposefull
Look Like... (Score:1)