February 26, 2012
Credits: NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS - MER Spirit - Credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/IPF
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Is there a very thin and almost unperceivable linear Cloud in the Martian Sky over Gusev Crater? Or the subtle white striations visible near the center of the picture are just an image artifact caused by the processing of the picture? It is hard to say. NASA Scientists, in fact, have more than once clearly stated and declared that the presence of Clouds in the Sky over Gusev Crater is something extremely rare, perhaps impossible to see. And we agree on that general assumption. But here we are, with a beautiful picture showing "something" in the Martian Sky that LOOKS LIKE a Cloud: a thin, whitish and almost invisible Linear Striation. What is that? What are we actually looking at? The answer, probably (and once again), is in front of us, gently blowing in the (Martian) wind... This Non-linearized Full-frame EDR was taken by Spirit's Left Panoramic Camera (PanCam) on Sol 520 of Spirit's Mission to Gusev Crater at approximately 18:21:32 Mars Local Solar Time, and the camera was commanded to use Filter 7 (432 nm). The picture has afterwards been colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a normal human eye would actually perceive if someone were on the Surface of Mars, near the NASA - Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and then looked up, towards the Sky, right after Sunset), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team |
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