Altered Sundial on Mars


Recommended Posts

Alright, instead of having wierd rants going on about a blue sky followed by flaming, this thread is only about the altered coloring as proved by the sundial photos.

Quote from nasa's site - http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre.../20040108a.html

Sundial Lands on Mars

Two views of a sundial called the MarsDial can be seen in this image taken on Mars by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera.

This photo was taken on mars by it's panoramic camera, the same one which took the "scenic" shots.

PIA05018_br.jpg

Here's a picture of the sundial taken from one of the hi-res scenic shots (This was from the less-red shot in nasa's archive, but the press release photo yields the same results)

sundial1.jpg

None of these images have been altered - if you want to see for yourself, go get a high-res scenic shot and zoom in.

We know Nasa is altering images for the public, as you can see in the overly-red scenic image (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040108a.html) which aired on TV compared to the original less-red in Nasa's archives.

What's going on Nasa? if both of these images were taken from the panoramic camera at nearly the same time, same place, same spirit rover, why is one bright red/dull brown, while the other is bright blue/bright green? Originals of the spirit rover also show the correct colors in testing facilities.

And for the hell of it, here's a replica of the sundial that went to mars:

450sundial_dial.jpg

Edit: rotate this image 90 degrees clockwise to get the correct perspective of the way the colors should be in the mars photos (blue lower right, red lower left, yellow upper right, green upper left)

Please keep flaming to a minimum, even if someone starts ranting about "we never reached the moon!"

-Mods- I'll delete the Mars blue sky thread a little while later

Edited by SaguratuS
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, ANY photo from mars which includes the sundial and landscape has incorrect colors, and the less red one has bright red instead of blue, and brown instead of green and yellow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, ANY photo from mars which includes the sundial and landscape has incorrect colors, and the less red one has bright red instead of blue, and brown instead of green and yellow.

well, the calibration shots are taken in shadows, the mock up has direct sunlight. Otherwise I believe the colors in the two are very close.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the blue is bright red! how is that close? and take a closer look at the sundial - you also need to remember that the red in the altered color photo is on the bottom left, not bottom right as seen in the sundial replica.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the blue is bright red! how is that close? and take a closer look at the sundial - you also need to remember that the red in the altered color photo is on the bottom left, not bottom right as seen in the sundial replica.

I got that, I was just saying that the incorrect color comes from the original picture which is less red, correct? Weren't the calibration shots also taken on Mars?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Colorization of Mars Images?

Posted by michael on Friday January 09, @02:15PM

from the technicolor dept.

ares2003 writes "There is no scientific reason, why JPL is colorizing Mars in that dull red tint as in their press release images. In the latest panorama image, there is a hint, that they deliberately altered the colors, as the blue and green spots on the color calibration target (the sundial) suddenly converted to bright red and brown. Source of original images: 1, 2 - (for highres replace "br" with "med"). At normal weather conditions, as we have at the moment, there should be a blue sky on Mars and earthlike colors. Furthermore the sky looks overcasted on the pictures as it cannot be considering the sharp shadows on the sundial. If the sky was overcast, then because of diffuse lighting, there would be no shadows. A few years ago, I did an investigation about that very same topic for the Viking and Pathfinder missions."

http://science.slashdot.org/science/04/01/...tid=160&tid=185

Also, this picture:

MARS_ROVER.jpg

This picture is supposedly taken in a live press breifing (note it is showing the blueish coloured sky) dunno its authenticity tho.

Edited by carlito
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It should be noted that the dial is used for color calibration. Why would they change the atmospheric color? It is brown and dusty like in this image because of lack of atmosphere. The atmosphere is thin, mmk? : ) Less atmosphere, composed of different gases than earth = less scattering of blue light.

PIA05037.jpg

It should also be noted that they color-corrected the dark-reddish image based on calibrations provided by the sundial. Don't believe me? Check spaceflightnow.com's mars page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do tell how blue turned into bright red, while the other colors took on a dark brownish appearance? I checked out spaceflightnow.com, couldn't find anything on that topic, and it's obvious that Nasa is altering the press release images, just compare their panoramic photo on nasa.gov to the panoramic photo that was released to the press, same image, different colors, still a very odd looking sundial.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heh, yeah, but when you actually compare the two, you see that one is just horribly red compared to the other. Guess Nasa needs to keep the "red planet" perspective for the public.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see what the big deal is... the color change isn't huge... And I Don't see why they would be doing this to 'trick' people into thinking that the planet is more red....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.