Stunning New Pictures from Mars
Posted by Mike E on November 9, 2009
The diversity of the landscapes of the solar system are both beautiful in their own right and significant to our understanding of particularity and complexity. Before encountering them, we generally formed a mind picture that made them seem somewhat drab, uniform, and perhaps even similar from planet to planet. But the anticipated experience was gray compared to reality. And I suspect there is a general truth to this — including about our social future and the novelty of coming experiences.
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From the original posting:
Since 2006, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been orbiting Mars, currently circling approximately 300 km (187 mi) above the Martian surface. On board the MRO is HiRISE, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which has been photographing the planet for several years now at resolutions as fine as mere inches per pixel. Collected here is a group of images from HiRISE over the past few years, in either false color or grayscale, showing intricate details of landscapes both familiar and alien, from the surface of our neighboring planet, Mars. I invite you to take your time looking through these, imagining the settings – very cold, dry and distant, yet real.
