The Clearest Images Of Another Planet You've Ever Seen

[Liberal_in_LA]

The Clearest Images Of Another Planet You've Ever Seen
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-clearest-images-of-another-planet-youve-ever
Now that the Curiosity rover is good and settled, it's starting to take in some scenery. This batch of images if both clear and exceptionally Earth-like.
John Herrman

NOT a popular mountain biking destination in Utah


NOT a sand dune in northern Africa


NOT a volcano in Hawaii


NOT a canyon park in Arizona

[FirstLight]

1. i wouldn't mistake those for earth

simply because of the lack of vegetation... not even scraps of long lost trees or weeds... no organic matter...


still, they are profoundly beautiful, if not haunting

[Cleita]

4. Actually, some of them look exactly like parts of the Atacama desert in Chile.

Especially, the last two pictures.

[Posteritatis]

9. Was about to say the same thing; the Atacama's about as Martian as Earth gets. (nt)

[Cleita]

12. When I was growing up I looked at a similar landscape every day from my bedroom window.

The only thing missing was the artificially created by man rock dump (from the mine) towards the right, a slice that would have been visible in that photo. And the hills in the background were a little rounder and smoother. Otherwise, looks like home to me.

[texshelters]

60. In Bolivia

the Atacama is a very surreal and alien landscape with fewer mountains.

The Mars photos are amazing and lovely. I know a man who helped write software for the camera. I'm impressed!

Peace,
Tex Shelters

[Scuba]

15. Just hang on, we'll wipe out the vegetation too if we get a chance.

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. Mauna Kea Hawaii

Atacama Chile



There are places in the world that look very close to that.

[calimary]

58. Whoa! Trippy photo!

VERY cool!

(Well, except for the graffiti.)

[surrealAmerican]

2. k & r

Those are some impressive photos!

[steve2470]

3. spectacular pics nt

[taught_me_patience]

5. Arizona in about 20 years

after all the vegitation is burned off.

[flamingdem]

6. We all helped build it n/t

[Posteritatis]

7. Here's the bottom photo in true color:

[Jackpine Radical]

8. With that title, I thought this was going to be

photos of the Republican National Convention.

[Atman]

10. Three of the pics are the exact same place

Wiyh just different color filters. I assume the other picture (#2) is, too. Not that they're not cool.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. the zoom is different also

[Atman]

17. The zoom is the only difference.

Also, as other poster pointed out, why no comments on the markings in the rocks that we consider to be water erosion in the Grand Canyon, or Bryce? Looks exactly like it. Seems like the scientists would be pretty excited about the similarity.

Don't get me wrong, not a moon denier or anything. I'm a big space fan! Just an observation.

[Lint Head]

11. I'm really puzzled as to why they have not explored or commented on the thing that looks

like a 'lake' or 'stream' in the second photo.

[Posteritatis]

16. It's dry; they're using different light filters to highlight different features.

The perspective's also difficult to track properly. The ridge in the foreground's a few hundred meters distant, and most of the stuff beyond that is several kilometers.

[randome]

13. I don't know why that first one keeps getting printed. It doesn't look that clear to me.

But the others are, as some have said, hauntingly beautiful.

[Terra Alta]

18. wow. how beautiful.

Amazing pics. It's a wonder what science can do. I hope I live long enough to see the first human step foot on Mars. We need to stop spending money on useless wars and tax breaks for the wealthy and spend it on space exploration.

[CK_John]

19. Are those white dots in the 2nd pic a humvee convoy? nt

[JoePhilly]

20. That's what earth will look like when Mitt becomes our God.

[jtuck004]

47. Or maybe just quicker. 'Cause it's been happening, and continues...

http://m.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2012/aug/22/edith-cavells-ghost-glacier-sheers-causes-tsunami/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090302-glaciers-melting.html

We will have to change Glacier Park to "The Park Formerly Known as Glacier Park" about 10 years sooner than planned, since according to the second story above they will be gone by 2020, about 10 years ahead of schedule.

[A HERETIC I AM]

21. I don't know. 40 years ago I was watching live, color TV broadcasts of two guys on the moon (edited

running, jumping and generally doing moonwalking things.

Those images were pretty damned clear.

Edited to add this video;

Still pretty good for 1970's technology.

Not to belittle the amazing accomplishment you are highlighting in your OP, however.

[jtuck004]

48. Those should be better pictures. Shot in a movie studio at a secret site in NM. <G> n/t

[coalition_unwilling]

22. You forgot this one:

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. lol

[Liberalynn]

24. That's funny

Thanks for the laugh

On a serious note. Thanks for sharing the pictures from Curiosity here. I have been watching a lot of the Science channel lately and am really interested in this mission.

[localroger]

26. Well where is the Earth-shattering KABOOM? /nt

[d06204]

25. What will be really impressive...

show us a gnat, a fly, a bird, a creepy crawly...something that lives and breath; something we know we can KILL.

[Terra Alta]

33. given human nature, if we were to actually find one of those things

we probably would actually kill it.

[d06204]

38. Yep, and while I was making light of a beautiful

situation, our history truly demonstrates that we kill that which we fear or don't understand. It like the old saying. " never get a pet/dog that you can't, with your hands, physically overpower, if need be."

[annabanana]

27. Wow... Thanks!

I love this stuff.

[a geek named Bob]

28. When

do we move there?

[tridim]

29. Spec freaking tacular!

Thanks for posting these.

[pinto]

30. Amazing photos. (nt)

[HopeHoops]

31. The striations look amazingly like long-term water erosion. That's weird.

I don't think the horrible wind storms on Mars could cause that kind of formation. I'm by no means an expert on it, but that looks like water (or some other fluid).

[drm604]

49. Not weird at all.

As I understand it, that's one of the reasons they chose this landing site. The appearance of water erosion.

[HopeHoops]

56. I'm thinking they may just have found it. I can't explain the formations otherwise.

[msongs]

32. rocks look like sedimentary layers, as in, once under an ocean nt

[Fumesucker]

34. That was my first impression also.. n/t

[gadjitfreek]

35. My thought exactly...

My dad and I toured southern Utah this summer and this looks like stratified sandstone.

[Posteritatis]

53. That's what NASA suspects. (nt)

[grantcart]

36. mrs grantcart just walked by my computer and said

"Why the hell are you looking at pictures of the rocks around Yuma? Don't we see enough of those things when we drive around?"

[kayakjohnny]

37. I like that they have an atmosphere.

[Bjorn Against]

39. When I opened this thread I expected to see pictures of the RNC

[MrScorpio]

40. Wind swept hills on another planet

That's on freaky thought

[Odin2005]

42. They look like the Dry Valleys of Antarctica.

[TahitiNut]

43. So, where's Captain Kirk fighting the Gorn captain??

[jtuck004]

44. Future home of FEMA Camp Mars. n/t

Seriously, thank you for posting those.

[superpatriotman]

45. I thought this for sure:

[burrowowl]

46. Thanks for the post!

[Botany]

50. Thanx for posting

Just a hop skip and a jump away from Newt's moon base.

[drm604]

51. Even with everything that's going on right now,

I think this may be the thing that history most remembers. Curiosity may be about to make some amazing discoveries.

[JI7]

52. love seeing those

[Canuckistanian]

54. Them new-fangled polaroids is SHARP!

How'd they get them to the drugstore so fast?

[myrna minx]

55. Breathtaking.

[Blue_Tires]

57. Looks like a good place to buy some property

how much an acre?

[MatthewStLouis]

59. "Mars is a place".

Amazing photos. It's almost hard to imagine a place that looks so earth-like has no breathable atmosphere or survivable temperatures (for humans anyway).