Mars photos
I had an "ah-ha" moment over the weekend. There I was, standing in a dog park as my pups romped. I checked my Treo for the news of the day, as I'd stayed away from TV and the Web most of the day. I'd heard on the radio that the Phoenix Mars Lander successfully touched-down on the Martian surface, so I wanted to know more.
Then I saw it. The foot of the lander resting on the gray surface of the Red Planet. Color images would come a couple of hours later. This one, though, was the first one from the Phoenix and it reminded me of the first grainy black-and-white TV images from the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. I was glued to the TV in the living room, mesmerized by the live image of Neil Armstrong stepping off the Lunar Module.
Fast forward to last weekend. I was looking at a photo -- on my phone -- shot less than an hour earlier by a camera that had just completed a 422 million mile trip. This was bit further than the short jog to our own moon. This was Mars on my phone... almost live.
Here's the photo:
You can see more images and follow the Phoenix Mars Lander mission here:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html
Cyberspace and outer space are good companions. Enjoy.
