Curiosity Rover on Track for Monday Landing
Curiosity, the car-size, one-ton rover is bound for arrival on Mars at 1:31 a.m., EDT on Monday, Aug. 6.
The landing will mark the beginning of a two-year prime mission to investigate one of the most intriguing places on Mars.
› Everything You Need to Know About Landing
› What to Expect From The First Pictures
Also check out this link for more interesting information: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
Comments
Thanks Rigel for posting this decent video Have a great day!
Here's a link to a stop motion video taken from Curiosity during the last 2 minutes of descent...pretty cool!:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/videos/
Image via the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
They're having a live streaming even with the media now. (Q&A)
http://www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL
Thanks Munro I stand Corrected I was thinking "Star' (I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight?)You can see the rings on Saturn with Binoc's with a scope to can see the moons.
Oh yeah If any body wants to know where we are in space our Sun is 2/3 of the way out on the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy Going through Space South pole first From the Southern Hemisphere you can see the center of the Galaxy it is called the Great Magellanic Cloud The stars that look like random dots are in the same arm we are in the stars alined in a ribbon are in the next arm of the Galaxy over the Sagittarius arm
When I look at Jupiter every one here agrees it looks like a "mini solar system " Binoculars are all you need check out the Andromeda galaxy and the Orion nebula and the Pleiades , etc . don't forget the moon the moon is best when it is not full and light reflects off the craters when it is full it is so bright it is washed out I think Sirius is the brightest point in the sky. With my large telescope it absorbs so much light you can go out it will be completely clouded over and you can still see the moon and most of the planets and major stars as if it is a clear night .To you guys with I pods and I pads My buddy has an app on his I pad you go out side point it at the sky and it shows you all the stars in the field of view you turn around and the sky changes to show you all the stars and planets where you are looking next! Congrats on the Mars landing!
It just never amazes me how similar the Mars terrain is to the Arizona desert.
Btw, Curiosity has it's own twitter account, no surprise:
https://twitter.com/marscuriosity
Well, despite all the trepidation, Curiosity seemed to have landed with no sweat. Apparently it took video on the way down, should be nice to see that.
Monroe, what's also good to see is Jupiter, and its moons. It's actually big enough to be seen with a 6" scope.
Munroe I built nearly every thing I have also Yes views with a large telescope are spectacular! What is your focal length? Mine is 1000 mm Check out the new moon when it is 3 days old on a crescent With a 4 mm eyepiece and a 2x Barlow you can see sun light reflect off the lunar lander it looks like a point of light the same as sun reflecting off a car wind shield some distance away I always look at targets in the west low on the horizon first because they are setting one time I saw a flock of ducks 5 miles away as if they are right here and routinely focus in on the filament of a street light bulb in the next town 15 miles away!