New website features 'live' images from Mars
A new Web site at ASU provides the public and scientists “live” views of Mars. A scrolling panel that runs continually at http://themis.asu.edu shows visual and infrared images of Mars as they are received from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) instrument on NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter spacecraft.
"These images appear on the site at the same time the THEMIS science team sees them,” says Phil Christensen, Regents Professor of Geological Sciences at ASU and the principal investigator for the THEMIS instrument. “No other orbiter mission is providing anything like this global view of Mars.”
THEMIS is a specialized camera on the Mars Odyssey orbiter spacecraft, which was launched in 2001. The device uses five visual and 10 infrared filters to study the mineralogy of Mars, as well as the thermal and physical properties of the Martian surface. At visual wavelengths, THEMIS has a resolution of 59 feet (18 meters) per pixel, while at infrared wavelengths its resolution is 328 feet (100 meters) per pixel.
posted by Fergie @ 10/17/2005 07:36:00 AM
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