Planet Four Talk

"Observation Toolbox" for HiRise Images.

  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Some of the terms used in the Observation Toolbox of the HiRise images are self-explanatory; Date, time, range to target, etc. Other terms are not so easy to understand. Is there an explanation page for these terms? If not, do we know anybody who'd like to write one?

    Pretty please ... 😛

    For myself, I'm most keen to understand the 'Solar Incidence Angle', eg, 74 degrees, with the sun 16 degrees above horizon. The 16 deg is fine, but the 74 degrees has got me stumped. Cheers.

    Posted

  • mschwamb by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to Kitharode's comment.

    Good point. For starters, we've got a blog post about solar longitude (L_s).

    Cheers,

    ~Meg

    Posted

  • mschwamb by mschwamb scientist, translator

    All the terminology in the Observation Toolbox is defined here (though it looks like in Firefox for me the links on the top don't work but you can scroll down to the term you're looking for)

    Cheers,

    ~Meg

    Posted

  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Fantastic. Thanks Meg. I'm on Firefox and the links didn't work for me either. But as you say, the terms are all defined lower down the page. Cheers.

    Posted

  • angi60 by angi60 in response to Kitharode's comment.

    I'm glad you asked for this information Kitharode because I kept wondering what it all meant! 😃

    Posted

  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator in response to angi60's comment.

    I've been using the Latitude and Longitude data for a while with my Mars map poster. This gives me a broad view of where each HiRise image is on Mars. I've also started checking each location against the 'polar layered deposits' diagram to see if the image area is on the layers or outside their boundary. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/images/pia09224.html

    The seasonal data is also useful for obvious reasons.

    Having read, and to a certain extent understood, some of the other terms I'm now beginning to get a better feel for what the MRO and the HiRise camera are doing. There's a real sense of the interplay between the Sun, surface, and camera beginning to emerge as I scribble out some angles and 'normals' and whizzy orbits. Fun stuff indeed. * 😛 *

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