Six Feet From Mars

Discussion in 'In the News' started by Lon Tanner, Feb 19, 2021.

  1. Lon Tanner

    Lon Tanner Supreme Member
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    Amazing Event MARS.jpg
     
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  2. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Yup.

    Truly miraculous.
     
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  3. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Ham radio operators are doing something that until recently only big Deep Space Networks could do. They're listening to radio signals from Mars. The "loud and audible" transmissions come from spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet. Some hams are hoping to detect NASA's Perseverance rover as it touches down later this week.
    Spaceweather.com Feb 17, 2021

    [​IMG]
     
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  4. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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  5. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    The signals take 11 minutes to reach Earth (I have no idea if that varies greatly depending on where the planets are relative to each other in their respective orbits.)

    And in the grand scheme of the universe, this isn't even our back yard...it's on the couch next to us.
     
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  6. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    The shadows seem wrong to me. The shadow from the rover is facing away from the camera view , but all of the shadows on the rocks are either on the side of the camera, or towards the right side of the picture. None of the rocks have shadows facing (the top of the picture) the same angle of the rover shadow.

    D885F1BB-1A3E-4E08-A71F-1BFA7476CCE1.jpeg
     
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  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I believe that Rover shadow on the left is from part of the craft that is out of our field of vision in the screen shot you grabbed. The wheels are on arms that protrude...they don't sit underneath like a golf cart.

    Perseverance Rover.jpg
     
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  8. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    But ALL of the shadows should be going the same way, away from the light source, and the rock shadows go a different way than the craft’s shadow. I just took a quick screenshot, but when you watch the whole video, it is pretty clear that the shadows do not all go the same direction like they should .
     
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  9. Faye Fox

    Faye Fox Veteran Member
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    Look at the cogs on the gear. The light is hitting them coming from the upper left which agrees with the way it hits the rocks. The side of the gear facing us is dark as is the side of the rocks facing us.

    Perseverance Rover.jpg
     
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  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I believe that part of the confusion is also that there are cameras on all sides of the vehicle, so their position relative to the sun is different. You likely noticed the camera source briefly appeared on the bottom of the screen as it changed from one to the other.

    The snapshot I posted (and that you marked up) is Rear Left and the sun is shining from 10:00 o'clock.

    This is from Right Front:

    Perseverance Rover 2.jpg

    Now the sun is shining 180° opposed, from 4:00 o'clock. But the shadows cast by all objects are in the same direction.

    And we have no idea how this equipment is configured, nor are we certain that some of the images are not "flipped," such that a right-handed human would appear to be a southpaw.
     
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