Saturday, July 12, 2008

Phoenix color panorama (pretty) complete - thanks to an amateur

As usual these days - with raw images from (NASA) space missions being distributed in near-real time - it was an amateur who has created the first complete panorama around the Phoenix lander in color; there are still some minor flaws, but now you know where "we" stand. • In other planetary news Jupiter images of July 11 and July 10 show only remnants of the Little Red Spot which may have been severely damaged after all when it 'collided' with the other two red storms. • Also wide-angle views of the Mars/Saturn conjunction from July 10 in Austria and earlier in Australia plus from July 9, earlier pics and the view of July 5 with a fire in California.

In other solar system news comet C/2007 W1 (Boattini) is back - though very low - for Northern observers who caught it well on July 11 (more and a wide-field view plus a visual report). • The Moon has been imaged with extreme libration, exposing the North Polar Region. • And there is no reason yet to worry about the long solar minimum.

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