[meteorite-list] Phoenix Lander and Mars Colors

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 14:36:40 -0500
Message-ID: <034301c8c0fa$26ea5eb0$fd2ce146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi,

    There is a long-running controversy about the "true"
colors of Mars. By "true" colors, one essentially means:
"What would it look like to my human eye if I was standing
there looking at the Martian landscape?"

    The Phoenix Lander can solve this problem. Like the
rovers, it will have a color calibration target, but a vastly
improved one, with magnetic protection against dust
accumulation.

    For those of us with the weird hobby of trying to
reconstruct the "true" colors, here is an image of the color
calibration target being used at this website:
http://news.ucf.edu/UCFnews/index?page=article&id=002400410f556ad3011a10e25439031e&mode=news
You have to click on the tiny black-and-white thumbnail
in the article to get the picture of the colors to pop up!

    You can see the target (twice) on the lander in this
new photo and compare the "true-ness" of the colors:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/231350main_sol002_runout_color.jpg

    Things still need a tiny bit of tweaking, but it's a
big improvement.


Sterling K. Webb
Received on Wed 28 May 2008 03:36:40 PM PDT