#Curiosity is now in the "Kalavryta Quad," named after a town in Greece, in northern Peloponnese, about 130km west of Athens and near the Chelmos-Vouraikos UNESCO Global Geopark, a region that consists of 40 unique geological sites including caves, karstic springs, rivers, alpine lakes, and fossil sites.
Check out this Martian panorama, captured by Curiosity two days ago, on Sol 4174. It is made of 50 adjacent images, each 1328x1184 pixels. Let's go for some zooms👇
How much does a solar eclipse dim daylight on Mars?
The animation shows #Curiosity's capture of a solar eclipse by Phobos on March 25, 2019 (Sol 2358). Phobos is small and does not fully cover the disk of the sun, so dimming is noticeable but not comparable to that of a total eclipse on Earth.
Wow 300 images captured by Curiosity to build a panoramic survey at her Sol 4175 location, ten days ago. This video show them at a rate of 10/second. It took about 50 minutes for the rover to complete this scan with her left mast camera.
There are some days on #Mars where #Curiosity has more geology to look at in #GaleCrater to see than we have time for dedicated imaging. Sol 3812 (April 26, 2023) was one of those days. Rather than miss out, we prioritized a mosaic with the wide-angle camera on #Mastcam to capture a ~100 degree swath of landscape. The results were lovely!
«A blue hue inches over the horizon illuminating a sea of rocks scattered across the landscape like the scales of a fish. Among the sea, alone in the vastness, a rover sleeps. The time is now 9:25, in a "time zone" defined for itself. The waking rover receives instructions from a tiny speck of light, far away and slowly creeping towards the other side of the sun. »
Congrats to Curiosity and her entire team who are celebrating the 11th ladiversary today! 🥳
I used the occasion to reprocess the first of many amazing rover selfies which was taken on Sol 84.
That's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, if you ask me.
#Curiosity continues its busy schedule, and plans to observe layered bedrock Charybdis, but the team notes:
"Note for Greek mythology enthusiasts: We have investigated a target named “Scylla” in the past, but the Rover Planners will continue to drive Curiosity along the MSAR (Mount Sharp Ascent Route), so fortunately Curiosity should not find itself between Scylla and Charybdis in the future."
😀 👍 !
“This is the first tangible evidence we’ve seen that the ancient climate of Mars had such regular, Earth-like wet-dry cycles,” Rapin said. “But even more important is that wet-dry cycles are helpful – maybe even required – for the molecular evolution that could lead to life.”
William Rapin of France’s Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie.
#Curiosity is currently doing science in an eerie looking environment up on Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater, where rocks frequently appear having lace-like structures, as the one seen in this image:
"Simple" #curiosity : What makes a good #community ? Do you have a personal take on it? Anything you learned from a relevant resource (please share the link)? #boostswelcome
Someone asked me recently about the ability to "Read the Room" and whether or not this was a skill that can be developed. I certainly believe it is a skill and can be cultivated. Perhaps the most impactful maxim which can guide us in this regard was taught to me by a Jedi Knight who went by the name Zenchi from the Temple of the Jedi Order. He told me, "Learn to Observe without needing to React."
The Internet, particularly the social media algorithm demon, has created an incentive not just to React to everything, but to Observe specifically to React. In this way we often bias our interpretation of that which we observe with a skew towards the least charitable interpretation so that our reaction can be as extreme as possible.
To counteract this and hone this skill of reading the room, we can practice several behaviors that will improve our lives.
First, be the last person to speak in an interaction. When you allow everyone else to have their say, it gives you a chance to examine their perspectives and gauge their intentions.
Second, questions are better than statements. The cultivation of curiosity leads to more robust conversations. A statement can often be viewed as dismissive or ultimate in nature, sometimes leaving a conversation partner feeling as though there's nothing left to say. Curiosity, by contrast, is almost always viewed as an invitation to continue discourse.
Third, speak in a way that is pleasant. We've been taught to rely on flippancy and sarcasm in modern discourse as we assume the intentions of others or deliberately misconstrue them to make ourselves look superior. By engaging with someone in a pleasant way, we can disarm hostility. Even if others fail to uphold this standard, we will still maintain our own peace which is of a value beyond measure.