Comments on: Best view yet! https://habitablezone.com/2016/03/23/best-view-yet/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: mcfly https://habitablezone.com/2016/03/23/best-view-yet/#comment-36085 mcfly Sat, 26 Mar 2016 06:42:18 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=56572#comment-36085 At the very least he should get a key to the executive washroom. At the very least he should get a key to the executive washroom.

]]> By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2016/03/23/best-view-yet/#comment-36077 Robert Thu, 24 Mar 2016 18:21:37 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=56572#comment-36077 Thanks very much, podrock. I was a bit stunned by the feeling of awe induced by the color image. Now you've harnessed my brain to the sense of awe, and my perception of the scene is now literally three dimensional. Now that you've drawn my attention to the "strange fracture pattern", it seems (now) obviously linked to the main feature by the fracture lines connecting them. Like a strong plant pushing through an asphalt driveway, indeed (though I was wondering at first where you were going with <i>that</i> colorful turn of phrase). Looking further to the upper right, there are bright patches on the crater wall. That's all I can say: Are they sites where the dark material's been scuffed away revealing lighter material underneath? Or did bits of the light material make it from the eruptions in the center out to the rim? How do you bet? Sweet, sweet, science! Thanks very much, podrock. I was a bit stunned by the feeling of awe induced by the color image. Now you’ve harnessed my brain to the sense of awe, and my perception of the scene is now literally three dimensional.

Now that you’ve drawn my attention to the “strange fracture pattern”, it seems (now) obviously linked to the main feature by the fracture lines connecting them. Like a strong plant pushing through an asphalt driveway, indeed (though I was wondering at first where you were going with that colorful turn of phrase).

Looking further to the upper right, there are bright patches on the crater wall. That’s all I can say: Are they sites where the dark material’s been scuffed away revealing lighter material underneath? Or did bits of the light material make it from the eruptions in the center out to the rim? How do you bet?

Sweet, sweet, science!

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2016/03/23/best-view-yet/#comment-36076 RL Thu, 24 Mar 2016 15:12:11 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=56572#comment-36076 We really should double his pay... We really should double his pay…

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2016/03/23/best-view-yet/#comment-36075 ER Thu, 24 Mar 2016 14:51:18 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=56572#comment-36075 Your interpretation of this image is invaluable. It is wonderful how knowledge of the Earth (geo logos) can be so useful and insightful applied to an alien landscape at the far edge of the solar system. Likewise, how studying that alien landscape can yield such useful, practical insights into our own home planet. As for "interpreting the relief correctly", isn't it odd that we all perceptually interpret an areal image best if we place the source of illumination up and to the left? All shaded relief maps are drawn this way, even though except for afternoons in the Southern Hemisphere, the Sun is never in the North West. Your interpretation of this image is invaluable.

It is wonderful how knowledge of the Earth (geo logos) can be so useful and insightful applied to an alien
landscape at the far edge of the solar system. Likewise, how studying that alien landscape can yield such
useful, practical insights into our own home planet.

As for “interpreting the relief correctly”, isn’t it odd that we all perceptually interpret an areal image
best if we place the source of illumination up and to the left? All shaded relief maps are drawn this way,
even though except for afternoons in the Southern Hemisphere, the Sun is never in the North West.

]]> By: podrock https://habitablezone.com/2016/03/23/best-view-yet/#comment-36072 podrock Thu, 24 Mar 2016 04:14:08 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=56572#comment-36072 <p>Observations</p> Thirty megabytes of goodness here: <a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20350" rel="nofollow">http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20350</a> From this, a cropped view of the crater: <img src="http://habitablezone.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PIA20350crop.jpg" alt="http://habitablezone.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PIA20350crop.jpg" /> <div style="max-width:500px;"> I turned this image 180 degrees so that it, at least to my eyes, shows the relief correctly. Your vision may differ, and invert the view so that hills are valleys. There is a lot going on here, aside from the puffball in the middle, which is so cool. It sits dead center of the crater, so it is not at all surprising to see some kind of salt-ice tectonics occurring here. We speculated before that the other spots occur along some kind of rift within the crater, and this image shows a complex, arcing fracture system. Why arcing? There is a fanning to the fractures as well. The spots to the lower left of this view show two volcanic looking vents. Wow! The furthest to the left seems fresh (sharp walls) and the next one to the right seems older (not as sharp, filled with material). Both sit on obvious fractures and are surrounded by apron deposits. A salt-ice volcano? The dome is beautiful. It's like a glob of toothpaste oozing out. It does not look explosive, more like a rhyolitic dome that we find in a caldera. Radial fractures and all. It will be exciting to see it evolve. It is surrounded by circular fractures that indicate subsidence. But the really neat thing in this frame? It's that strange fracture pattern at the upper right of the arcing rift. Have you ever seen a strong plant push through an asphalt driveway? Before it manages to break through, the asphalt will fracture in a pattern pretty much like this. So is another salt-ice diapir pushing upward here? Will we get to see it emerge? </dir> <p style="font-size:smaller;font-style:italic;">Edited by Robert to improve text formatting.</p> Observations

Thirty megabytes of goodness here: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20350

From this, a cropped view of the crater:

http://habitablezone.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PIA20350crop.jpg

I turned this image 180 degrees so that it, at least to my eyes, shows the relief correctly. Your vision may differ, and invert the view so that hills are valleys.

There is a lot going on here, aside from the puffball in the middle, which is so cool. It sits dead center of the crater, so it is not at all surprising to see some kind of salt-ice tectonics occurring here. We speculated before that the other spots occur along some kind of rift within the crater, and this image shows a complex, arcing fracture system. Why arcing? There is a fanning to the fractures as well.

The spots to the lower left of this view show two volcanic looking vents. Wow! The furthest to the left seems fresh (sharp walls) and the next one to the right seems older (not as sharp, filled with material). Both sit on obvious fractures and are surrounded by apron deposits. A salt-ice volcano?

The dome is beautiful. It’s like a glob of toothpaste oozing out. It does not look explosive, more like a rhyolitic dome that we find in a caldera. Radial fractures and all. It will be exciting to see it evolve. It is surrounded by circular fractures that indicate subsidence.

But the really neat thing in this frame? It’s that strange fracture pattern at the upper right of the arcing rift. Have you ever seen a strong plant push through an asphalt driveway? Before it manages to break through, the asphalt will fracture in a pattern pretty much like this.

So is another salt-ice diapir pushing upward here? Will we get to see it emerge?

Edited by Robert to improve text formatting.

]]> By: mcfly https://habitablezone.com/2016/03/23/best-view-yet/#comment-36059 mcfly Wed, 23 Mar 2016 20:46:31 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=56572#comment-36059 Sweet!! Yet again, NASA delivers. Sweet!! Yet again, NASA delivers.

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