On Sunday 27 June 2004 00:01, Standing Bear wrote:
> The European Space Agency's 'Mars Express' has some very interesting
> photos featuring the grand canyon of Mars, the Valles Marinaris. These
> pictures show very extensive green areas in the lower reaches of the canyon
> and on the floors. There appears to be well developed stream features in
> them. Guess somebody there forgot to classify them yet, so get them before
> they get hidden behind some 'official secrets act' or some such. They are
> supposed to be in some normal color mode of shooting, not a false color;
> so assume that the green is actually that, green. The shades of green
> range from light to dark or in shadow. The canyon shows very deep there in
> the one picture where the canyon takes a turn and some side canyons can be
> seen as well. The green appears also fairly high on the walls, but none
> near the top. On the top it is flat and absolutely no green is found on
> top, meaning none found outside the canyon in the pictures I saw.
> To an old California boy like me, this means vegetation. I have seen
> many canyons in the deserts not far from where I live, and vegetation
> follows the depths and shelters of those canyons seeking shelter from
> excessive sun and access to runoff water. The greens in the Valles
> Marinaris seem to follow the same pattern.
> Some may try to cast doubt on these pictures for reasons of self
> benefit or some kind of gain, but the pictures are there. The colors are
> there. While there may be some alternative 'explanations' no matter how far
> fetched, the above is one explanation that appears to fit the facts. Oh
> yes, malachite and some other minerals are green as well, but they do not
> follow stream beds and seek to avoid cold and windswept areas or areas void
> of atmosphere sufficient to grow; and they are not always found on top.
>
> Standing Bear
Hello All,
Guess I have to reply to my own post! The page from ESA is:
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEM69E3VQUD_1.html#subhead4
and the large format picture probably referred to in the replies is:
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/marsexpress/061-160604_0360-6.co-01-MelasChasma.jpg
.....but the higher pixel density 3-d view I referred to in my original post is:
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/marsexpress/062-160604_0360-6.3d-01-MelasChasma.jpg
.....and it is the last image, the 3D image, that i direct my any my readers'
attention.
I am a Linux user on the internet and a windows user only for games and some
business and
other software like AutoCAD and CorelDraw that I use for other customers' work. I am
familiar with
colors that can 'appear like' and then look much muddled when blown up to about 2400
percent
or so in order to bring out the original pixels. In Linux I use the GNU image program
'Gimp'. It
is a better program than the name appears to evoke. My system displays 1600x1200
pixels with
32 million colors using an ATi-9700 pro vid card with 128MB on a base system 3GHz P4
proc, 1GB
RAM and .5TB disk space. It is believed that this will hold that image using S.u.S.E.
9.1 Linux. It all
displays on a rather expensive 21 inch monitor of the analog variety as digital ones
have washout
and color fidelity problems as well as affinities for particular resolutions and see
all other resolutions
as through a cracked glass. The GNU Image Manipulation Program has facilities for
analyses, pixel
by pixel, of any color and will resolve it and read out its component color values.
When one blows up a digital picture, one eventually arrives at the pixels which
make up the image.
Those pixels will be of a definite color in appearance and that color will be made up
of the primary
colors, red-green-blue, in combination with each having a digital value of 0-255. The
result will be
about 256^3 colors, thirty thousand or so of which are commonly differentiatable by
the average
person (number possibly greater for women....[this is documented on other ways too as
women
figure in the official design deflection standards for the limits of span over
deflection of 1over 360
for female users of room space as opposed for 1 over 180 for primarily male users of
similar spaces[)
Percieved colors of pixels that have a greenish look will show to also have large
components of
other colors as well. A pixel from SVJ's own website..'elf_nap_m.jpg-0-0' numbered
hex triplet #bdd99e
has color appearance of a lite green with some yellow and has color values of Red:189
Green:217 Blue:158!
One, I suppose, with a large background in 'color theory' that we are supposed to
accept at face value
over and above the proof of our own eyes (we actually really saw the planet Veeenuss
through swamp
gas maybe.....) could and probably would tell us that the color is not green but
black, or brown, anything but
green. As for what one would have to gain. I knew many professors at university who
quaked at the
thought that anyone would breathe that they may believe in extraterrestrial life.
That was just not repeated
about a professional if that professional wanted to keep his career on track. It is
not about gain but loss
or the potential for loss that cows those who know better into the silence of the
lambs (scholastically correct)
I would not bother with this letter is I felt there was not some out there who would
care for the truth
and seek it out rather than be content with arrant skeptobabble. There are many green
or greenish
appearing pixels in the perspective picture which shows a smaller portion of the large
overhead shot
but at the same resolution. The pictures put on the web had been 'shrunk' to fit into
the acceptable
downloadability. Both of the pictures referred to above are in the 1500x(1200-1500)
range. However
the last pic is made from the stereographic camera from the originals and should be
really of higher
presented resolution. Just do the math and read the website from ESA! ESA also
states that the
camera has a resolution of about 16 meters on the surface. The perspective image is
probably, in the
foreground at least, closer to the optimum limiting value of the given 16 m/pixel.
A lot of different vegetation in combination
with bare ground can be in a 256 square meter area on a desert floor. All vegetation
is not green.
Anyone from the deep south in the United States knows that Spanish moss is light
greenish gray to
gray in color. Experience in living on or near any desert country will know this
intimately.
We have red oaks on my property whose leaves are a dark brick red to burnt orange.
The mesquite tree of the American southwest is grey to white in appearance much of the
time, and
the cholla cactus is a dull grey. This will present a wide range of colors when a
camera has to make
up its mind just what color a particular pixel is. One pixel of the perspective shot
in that martian valley,
Hex Triplet #6a7236 has a color value of Red:106 Green:114 Blue:54 and appears dark
olive green.
There are tens of thousands of other pixels with significant green in them.
One day members of our species will walk that valley. Some may even want to plant
a flag there.
Few then will remember or care about the sometimes intense debates that went on
before about what
would be found there. Theirs will be the job of taking samples first hand and let the
chips fall where
they may.
I have not manipulated my downloads of these pix in order to say falsely that
some color is not there or is.
There would be no purpose in it as the pictures are there for everyone to see and
examine as I have done.
Let the silent majority look and decide for themselves rather than be spoonfed.
We not only use computers for art and design, but also are artists in our own
right. We own a ceramics
shop and have sold our work in 5 states. That is art in three dimensions. Our colors
do not vibrate.
My wife does quality painting as do I the detailing on the greenware. We have no need
for tricks.
I have no 'job' or 'career' to protect that would make me prostitute my
observations. Everybody knows
what green looks like. If there is any plantlife on that rock, the lowest and hottest
place on the planet
and the most sheltered from the wind is where it will be if it is to be found on the
surface. That canyon
is miles deep. Bear in mind that only a few miles above our planet is the silent
boundary of breathable
air for us.
Take a good look at the perspective shot. There are the hints of lines that run
horizontally about the
slopes and follow the contours of the canyon wall as they wind their way through curve
and sweep
to connect various lighter green areas. Some would even say it looked like a road
complete with
cut and fill on the outside curves. Clearly far fetched! One can only see this when
looking at the
image from 'far away' as this 'feature' tends to 'fade into the background' up close
like the picture of
a furry pet when one tries to image single hairs only to become lost in a sea of
jumbled pixels. I won't
defend this nearly as passionately as the colors, as this is truly a subjective
observation. However,
those at ESA with the original stereographs and the ability to do precise
photogrammetry on this may
have a different and more 'classified' take on it.
Standing Bear
