The Other Shoe: The Mars Report

(Curiosity Rover Near Mount Sharp Peak)

Welcome back My Dear Shoevians to The Other Shoe and another edition of ‘The Mars Report’. Each and every week I work to bring all of you, My Dear Shoevians, the latest news, science and images from the Martian surface. Today I have some incredible images, one reminiscent of a very popular poster of the early 70’s. This will be only the second edition of ‘The Mars Report’ to be published ‘Tri-Blog’. Meaning that all of you, My Dear Shoevians, can read this article and view these incredible images from any one of my three blog locations.
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First, my primary blog location is at Blog Dot Com www.theothershoe.blog.com/ . The second location is at Word Press www.theothersshoe.wordpress.com/ . The third and final location is at BlogSpot www.theothersshoe.blogspot.com/ . I encourage everyone to take a look at all three locations and decide which location and layout serves your needs best. This does make for a bit more work, on my part, but I have high hopes that these efforts will not go without reward, in that I hope to continue to expand my readership = more My Dear Shoevians!
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Though, I may have been absent the past week (due to mounting pain and doctor appointments leading to surgery in the near future) NASA/JPL and the Martian rover Curiosity spent that time productively. Today I have images; showing the course of Curiosity over this spring, an unusual ultraviolet aura on the Martian surface, to a sunset sequence on the Martian surface at Gale Crater. This proves to be an exciting edition packed full of spectacular images from the Martian surface, let’s get started!
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(Curiosity's Path to Some Spring 2015 Study Sites)

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At the risk of repeating myself, the image above is the course plotted for Curiosity over the spring. Taking us, and the rover Curiosity, from Jocko Butte all the way around Logan’s Pass to the base of Mount Stimson. This journey will take the nest three months to traverse, and I will share images all along the way. My Dear Shoevians, you are in a unique place… a unique blog, to see this travel relayed to you, MY Dear Shoevians, right here on the pages of The Other Shoe.
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(Rover's Reward for Climbing: Exposed Geological Contact)

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Above we see an example of “geologic contact” as seen by Curiosity upon arrival at the top of Mount Sharp. This image shows The Martian outcrop where pale rock meets darker overlying rock near the middle of this May 21, 2015. Notice the difference in shading, visible even in this black and white photo. This image was taken from the MastCam of the Curiosity rover.
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(MAVEN Captures Ultraviolet Aurora on Mars)

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Now, My Dear Shoevians, just how many of you remember the ‘Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission’ as I explained it in a pervious edition of ‘The Mars Report’? Also know as MAVEN, this spacecraft arrived September 21^st, 2014 into Martian orbit. Dedicated to study of the Martian atmosphere, and to discern just what happened to the Martian atmosphere. The image above shows MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) auroral detections in December 2014 overlaid on Mars’ surface. This aura is widespread in the northern hemisphere and not situated over any geologic feature or location.
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Our next two images, My Dear Shoevians, are of the same geographic locations and taken at the same time by the same instrument, Curiosity’s MastCam. The only difference, between the two images, is that the first (below) is annotated with the locations for upcoming travel. Whereas, the second image does not contain these annotations. I include both for one reason. I know that a great many of you, My Dear Shoevians, use my images as wallpapers for your desktops. I wanted you to have the opportunity to see and know Curiosity’s upcoming pathway, and have an image suitable for use as wallpaper for your desktop.
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(Diverse Terrain Types on Mount Sharp, Mars – Annotated)

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Now, for the image suitable for using as your desktop wallpaper, the un-annotated version of the same image from Curiosity’s MastCam. A quick reminder, if you are viewing this article at either my Blog Dot Com location or the new location at BlogSpot… I want to remind you that the very best images (for use as desktop wallpapers) are at the Word Press location. Just click on the embedded link in the previous sentence to take you to that blog. I am not sure just why it is, but that blog allows for complete uploads of HD images.
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(Diverse Terrain Types on Mount Sharp, Mars)

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While, My Dear Shoevians, I greatly enjoy bringing you gargantuan editions of ‘The Mars Report’, alas today’s is not the case. We have but two images left for this, today’s, edition. As always, I am saving the very best image for last, today. Next, however, I have to share with you a shot forward in Curiosity’s journey on the Martian surface. If Curiosity is anything like its predecessor, Opportunity, we will receive images for another decade. Our next image shows some “unfavorable terrain” that lies ahead for Curiosity. This view southeastward from Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) shows terrain judged difficult for traversing between the rover and an outcrop in the middle distance where a pale rock unit meets a darker rock unit above.
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(Unfavorable Terrain for Crossing Near 'Logan Pass')

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Now, MY Dear Shoevians, that brings us to the final image of today’s edition of ‘The Mars Report’. I do not know just how many of you, MY Dear Shoevians, were alive and aware of the Apollo lunar missions. However, out of those missions came an image that was turned into millions of posters. Posters, some of which were turned into wallpaper. I cannot count how many young men, and boys, that I saw this wallpaper in their bedrooms. The image I am talking about, of course, was the ‘Earthrise on the Moon’!
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That historic shot of the Earth coming over the lunar horizon was nothing short of historic. I still see it, in older movies and television shows, in backgrounds all around. Today I share what could soon be, another historic image taken by Curiosity of a sunset on the Martian surface. This is a GIF image, and is a composite of several images. Be sure to stay with your browser focused on this part of the page until you see this image, change. ENJOY!
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(Sunset Sequence in Mars' Gale Crater)

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That brings us to the end of this edition of ‘The Mars Report’ for June 1^st, 2015. MY Dear Shoevians I hope that you have enjoyed your time here, today. As always, I want to do my best to give you images to enjoy combined with news and science to engage. I thank you for your time, your support and your ‘Shares’ and “Likes’. If you have enjoyed this edition, remember to Share it with friends, family and co-workers. That way more and more people can enjoy these images, and my work.
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Thank you!
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Adieu!
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