Comments on: Where In The Universe Challenge #11

By: Pedro

Pedro — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:59:39 +0000

i GUESSED!

Better, i found it:
Crater Central Uplift West of Nili Fossae (PSP_007464_1985)

The HIRISE camera.

First time for me!

Pedro

PS: I know it has been a few days but i only opened the email today

By: Van

Van — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:52:30 +0000

False color images are cheating! I understand the scientific utility of false color images but they do NOT belong in this game. In my humble opinion.

By: Jorge

Jorge — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:26:39 +0000

Actually, I don't think "not true color" is even remotely mandatory. For two reasons.

First of all, the vast majority of planet photos you see are not true color, even when they seem to be. Photos in space are shot to gather information, which means that they typically use very specific wavelengths scientists know (or hope) that will convey the most information about what they are photographing. Some of these photos are then processed to give us an approximation of true color but, since the wavelengths used are not our computers' RGB values, they'll be always just approximations.

And secondly, certain instruments produce consistently images in false color with some peculiar characteristics. Or the teams' processing work follows a given pattern. That's how I knew this was a HiRISE image: I had seen several other HiRISE images in blue tones much like these – used to better investigate the geological characteristics of Mars rocks – and since the topology was right for Mars, with craters, apparently layered rocks and dry flow structures, I found it pretty easy to decide on a subject, spacecraft AND camera.

By: Kootstar

Kootstar — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:49:36 +0000

I agree that "not true color" at least should be mentioned. Spacecraft is one thing, but instrument changed color is a whole off-throw. Of course, I was just throwing off a wild guess of maybe Europa in a recently cratered and seldom seen rock point area, taken perhaps by Cassini in a recent fly-by.

By: PaulS

PaulS — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:58:00 +0000

Yay! I correctly guessed the planet, spacecraft, and even the camera!

By: Navneeth

Navneeth — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:49:37 +0000

I've never seen Mars in blue. My guess was Io, and the central uplift to be a volcano.

I'll go to the corner. Obviously my grasp of planetary geology is utterly bad.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:20:59 +0000

I feel embarrassed I was completely off. I guess Io. I didn't even guess a planet.

By: neoguru

neoguru — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:35:14 +0000

I sorta got it. I figured Venus or Mars but settled on Venus because of the white and blue colors seemed wrong for Mars. No fair! If it's a false color image, we should be told what the colors represent! Since I'm grading myself, I'm gonna give me credit since I had trouble figuring which of my two choices was correct. I'm 9 for 11 I tell ya!

By: Loki

Loki — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:38:51 +0000

I guessed Callisto for some reason…boy was I waay off.

By: RL

RL — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:49:27 +0000

Sigh. Wrong again. I guessed Titan. I had decided it was definitely not Mars because of the blue! D'OH!

Well, there's always next week!

By: BadGuy1981

BadGuy1981 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:59:23 +0000

I was guessing Earth as well, i got thrown off by the blue….. i was thinking maybe coral reefs in the caribean….. ugh…. wrong again…

By: Nexus

Nexus — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:08:16 +0000

I was going to guess Earth, since it's so often Earth, but then I saw the little crater. That and the smooth areas made me think it was the Moon.

By: Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:57:21 +0000

Jorge-

Sure! Give yourself extra points. Congrats!
Nancy

By: Jorge

Jorge — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:56:35 +0000

Yes! Nailed it.

Looked at it and thought to myself "hm… this looks like one of those HIRISE photos of Mars". Is there extra points for guessing the *instrument*?

By: Yoo

Yoo — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:34:20 +0000

I can't believe I actually guessed the correct planet! The erosion features suggested a planet that had or has liquid flows, but the blue part looked too small to be an ocean, so I managed to guess Mars. Didn't have a clue with the spacecraft, though.

Of course, it could be a lucky guess for the wrong reasons. ^_^;;