Earth as seen from Mars ...

"Earth as Seen from Mars
5/31/05
On its 449th martian day, or sol (April 29, 2005), NASA's Mars rover Opportunity woke up approximately an hour after sunset and took this picture of the fading twilight as the stars began to come out. Set against the fading red glow of the sky, the pale dot near the center of the picture is not a star, but a planet -- Earth."



Earth as Seen from Mars
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/images.cfm?id=1685

NASA's Spirit and Opportunity still probing Mars after two years
http://tinyurl.com/dph39

That is a great shot. The rovers have done some impressive astronomy with their panoramic cameras...


Many people don't seem to realize it, but we are truly in the midst of a second golden age of space exploration. The Planetary Society has put together some highlight images from this year:

http://planetary.org/news/2005/1231_The_Year_in_Pictures_2005.html

My personal favorite is a time-lapse movie shot in August by the Messenger probe to Mercury on its first gravity assist flyby of Earth:

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/flyby_movie.html

The video is a big, but it's awesome to see the rotating earth receding in the distance. The annotated version isn't much bigger and gives you a better sense of time elapsing...

Always been fascinated with astronomy! Funny thing though is that I bought a Mead ETX90-EC with an additional $2500 worth of options for it after searching for best buys and brand new. Couldn't figure out how to use it! Called Meade themselves and for the life of me, just cannot get it! Not a tech person here. . .

I did chance upon Saturn once and Jupiter and some others. Mostly by being frustrated, I somehow got the telescope to track which was my biggest problem! Finally gave it away to my little neice who's interested in space exploration. Certainly the one I had is no comparison to what NASA and JPL have as indicated in the links provided!

A little like the way that we see Venus, near the western horizon, it's the brightest thing in the sky as the Sun is setting. And like Venus to us, when seen through a telescope from Mars, one would see a "half" Earth, similar to a "half" moon.

It's a very cool photo. I gives a bit of a "gut" feeling as to Earth's place in the solar system and the cosmos.

I'm sure that in the Martian night sky, Jupiter is quite formidable and Saturns rings a bit more majestic than as seen from Earth when they are on the same side of the Sun.

73
dim

i can se myhouse

Here's a real cool link to bookmark for those who don't have it! (And if you think this is OT, clk the Jan 1 pic and read the "explanation" below!!! )

Larry

raggie33 said:

i can se myhouse

Click to expand...

Ha ha...thanks for the great laugh this morning!

Hmmm, Martian beamshot, maybe?

Great throw!

Thanks, Nice Shot!
I also do some backyard astronomy with a 10" Cassegrain..