Nasa probe pictures Phobos moon (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Nasa's Mars Reconaissance Orbiter (MRO) has captured two stunning images of the Red Planet's biggest moon Phobos.

Stickney Crater, a 9km (5.5 mile) -wide depression that is the largest feature on Phobos dominates the pictures.

The images also show a series of grooves and crater chains; the formation of these features is the subject of debate among scientists.

MRO was launched from Florida in August 2005 and entered orbit around the Mars in March 2006.

It is mapping the Martian surface with high-resolution cameras with a view to choosing landing sites for future missions.


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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7340670.stm

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/phobos.php {WARNING: HUGE jpeg's}

[Wilber_Stool]

1. If you like anaglyphs,

red-blue 3-D, look here.
Really great pics.

[Phoonzang]

2. Hmm...never knew Phobos had

a red tinge. Interesting. I think it would be a good place for a manned mission as a precursor to an actual Mars landing.

[krispos42]

3. The gravity's too light

The gravity on Phobos is like 1/2,000th of ours. You could probably jump up into Martian orbit! :-)

[Phoonzang]

6. Well it wouldn't be a landing per se

More like a....touch down? Still it would serve as a shakedown cruise for the Mars mission.

[LongTomH]

9. Actually, that's been suggested.

The "PhD" mission plan for Mars exploration was proposed in the 1990s, just before Robert Zubrin came up with his Mars Direct.

The PhD mission would put human explorers on Deimos, where they would control telefactored rovers on the surface. Some of those rovers would include sample return rockets. Deimos, by the way, is very close to the geostationary altitude for Mars, so the orbiting operators could control rovers for days at a time.

The mission would have ended with a short jaunt to the inner moon, Phobos which would include a pick-up of the sample return capsules from the surface.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Two possible explanations for the red color

The color might be an artifact of the photography processing. Robotic explorers usually take their images through three or four filters which have been polarized to admit only light of a very specific frequency. The resulting black and white can then be sent back with greater redundancy, which means less data loss as it travels millions or billions of miles. The images are then colored and put together in the lab. This technique also allows researchers to "stretch" the spectrum and reveal details that might otherwise be lost. There is a good chance that the red and blue in the image are actually different shades of greenish gray pulled to opposite ends of the visible light range to make things easier to see.

It might also be that the moon is a greenish gray but is covered with dust that had been ejected from the planet below. Mars has 1/3rd Earth's gravity and a very thin atmosphere; it is not unreasonable to think that crater splash-up might rise high enough and stay up long enough to be captured by Phobos' minute gravity.

[Nihil]

4. That looks like one BIG MF of an impact to cause that! (n/t)

:wow:

[eppur_se_muova]

7. That gray area at center right looks like printed circuitry ...

sure hope that's an artifact of my laptop monitor. :)

[Buck Turgidson]

8. This thing looks familiar. Too familiar.

[FogerRox]

10. Aye, Captain, thats the Planet Killer.

[Wilms]

11. Kirk: "There is no fourth planet!" Decker: "Don't you think I know that?"

It's terrible how so many of the astronomy posts go off topic. :blush: