Image Sets  06 April, 2010 00:19

New Images From 06 April 2010 Added

10-096_23.50.02_VMC_Img_No_3.pngNew images have been posted to the image database. These images are from the VMC observation on 06 April 2010, for more details on this observation hit the "Full Story" link below. To access the images click the link below. Also you can access the Celestia file to see where the images were captured and access the raw data in the zip file (for more details see Help us with the VMC)



06/04/2010 23:48-00:19 Gallery

Celestia Script

Raw Files Archive

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Image Sets  03 April, 2010 19:03

New Images From 03 April 2010 Added

10-093_18.53.57_VMC_Img_No_3.pngNew images have been posted to the image database. These images are from the VMC observation on 03 April 2010, for more details on this observation hit the "Full Story" link below. To access the images click the link below. Also you can access the Celestia file to see where the images were captured and access the raw data in the zip file (for more details see Help us with the VMC)



03/04/2010 18:52-19:03 Gallery

Celestia Script

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   Slideshow
Public submission by Martin Ahr: I have created an animation from a VMC image series that was made on November 5, 2009. It shows what I believe to be clouds onto which the sun starts shining as the rotation of Mars brings them towards the sunlit side. There are clouds which appear to move also in a direction transverse to the direction of rotation of Mars, and some seem to disappear as the sun starts shining on them. For each frame of the animation, I combined three images from one of the exposure bracketing series into one HDR image. I tried to also use the fourth image having the shortest exposure time. However, the HDR program I used could not combine this image with the other three images, probably because the difference in brightness between the image and the other three images is very large. Since the sunlit side of Mars is overexposed in all three images used, it remains overexposed. However, the dynamic range of the HDR image is sufficient to cover the entire brightness range of the clouds. I then took the logarithm of the brightness values of the pixels in each HDR image to obtain images that can be displayed on a monitor while still showing the full dynamic range of the HDR images. Thereafter, I shifted the images such that Mars it at substantially the same position in each image, combined the images into an animation and rotated the animation such that the sunlight shines from the right. I tried several orientations, and, in my opinion, this one looks most natural. Unfortunately, Mars is moving out of the camera's field of view at the end of the series. Since the clouds are not shown any more in images No. 30 and later, I omitted these images. In the remaining images, I made the cut off portions transparent (which can be seen in the animation at the upper right part of Mars). GIF images can comprise only 256 different colors. Therefore, I converted the images to grayscale. This does not make much difference, since the color saturation in the original images is so low that colors are almost invisible. I used three computer programs for the processing: Fitswork for reading the raw data, extracting color information from Bayer patterns, shifting images and calculating logarithms of brightness values; FDRTools Basic for creating HDR images; and Gimp for combining the images into an animation, minor adjustment of the brightness of individual images and rotating the animation. This is a list of the VMC images used for the animation: Frame 1: 09-309_19.02.06_VMC_Img_No_3.raw,09-309_19.02.59_VMC_Img_No_4.raw,09-309_19.03.53_VMC_Img_No_5.raw; Frame 2: 09-309_19.05.39_VMC_Img_No_7.raw,09-309_19.06.33_VMC_Img_No_8.raw,09-309_19.07.26_VMC_Img_No_9.raw; Frame 3: 09-309_19.09.13_VMC_Img_No_11.raw,09-309_19.10.06_VMC_Img_No_12.raw,09-309_19.10.59_VMC_Img_No_13.raw; Frame 4: 09-309_19.12.46_VMC_Img_No_15.raw,09-309_19.13.39_VMC_Img_No_16.raw,09-309_19.14.33_VMC_Img_No_17.raw; Frame 5: 09-309_19.16.19_VMC_Img_No_19.raw,09-309_19.17.13_VMC_Img_No_20.raw,09-309_19.18.06_VMC_Img_No_21.raw; Frame 6: 09-309_19.19.53_VMC_Img_No_23.raw,09-309_19.20.46_VMC_Img_No_24.raw,09-309_19.21.39_VMC_Img_No_25.raw; Frame 7: 09-309_19.23.26_VMC_Img_No_27.raw,09-309_19.24.19_VMC_Img_No_28.raw,09-309_19.25.13_VMC_Img_No_29.raw. Image Credit: Martin Ahr, ESA View of the North Polar cap of Mars taken by the Mars webcam (MEX-VMC) instrument from a distance of 10,000 km on September 30, 2010. This image was created by making an average of several images 2,4,6,8,10,12,14, and 16. Then Gaussian blurring this by 1 pixel to make a smooth color background. Next, Image No 12 was used as a luminosity layer. It was also used as a HiPass layer to enhance subtle details. Finally it was blended with some of the original Image No. 12. Contrast enhancement and rotation and cropping gave the final image. Image credits: ESA / Mike Malaska Hannes Griebel: Mars Express Limb Observation - The images used are based on the raw images and were processed in the following way: 1. the Moiré pattern was removed, 2. the color saturation was adjusted, 3. the clarity (contrast) was enhanced. The brightness distribution accross a single image is a camera effect and has not been removed. The streak appearing in each image is an artifact (perhaps on the camera lens). To make the mosaic the individual pictures were geometrically corrected to match a map. Images towards the equator are larger in coverage but lower in resolution as the spacecraft moves away from the planet. A screenshot from the MAPPS science planning software shows the approximate position of the spacecraft for the observation and annotations showing what is visible have been added. Note clouds and dust in the atmosphere! Image Credits: Hannes Griebel/ESA Mosaic credit ESA/R. Mahkin