[extropy-chat] SPACE: where are we?

[Alan Eliasen]

Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
> There is a lot of information there but most of it cannot be
> processed by the public.  For example I have no clue as to
> what filters are being used on the cameras to take the pictures.
> I haven't even seen a good explanation as to how many cameras
> there are, where they are located, etc.  (Yes I can probably go
> dig in NASA files and discover this -- but so can the reporters.)

   Actually, the issue about the filters and the colors of Mars is an
interesting story.  I thought that they were altering the colors, until I did
more research.  The link below will tell you how to tell what filters were
used on any given raw picture (it's in the filename), and you can even play
around with combining the pictures yourself to make your own real-color
images, (finding appropriate images for real color is rare, because most color
separations are taken through *infrared*, green, and blue filters) or making
your own 3-D images (the NASA ones use way too much green channel which hurts
separation.)

   http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=30048

   Fascinating stuff.

-- 
  Alan Eliasen                 | "You cannot reason a person out of a
  eliasen at mindspring.com       |  position he did not reason himself
  http://futureboy.homeip.net/ |  into in the first place."
                               |     --Jonathan Swift