Breathtaking photo of Phobos "hovering"over Mars

I just had to share this image taken by ESA's Mars Express satellite late last year:



apod.nasa.gov...

It reminds me of a painting by Maigritte!

Nice post. I think that's awesome. You should stick to things like this, it suits you better.

Cool picture, thanks for sharing.

Why is it though, half the pics from space look like they are totally fake? Especially Saturn pics?

CX.

reply to post by CX

Why is it though, half the pics from space look like they are totally fake? Especially Saturn pics?

Because they are digital and have to be assembled into an image that approximates what a human eye would see.

reply to post by DJW001

Because they are digital and have to be assembled into an image that approximates what a human eye would see.

But aren't most modern cameras digital? The ones on our phones for example? The pictures I take on my phone do not appear to be fake... Am I missing something?

reply to post by CX


because they do not show reality...thats only what they want us to see...

reply to post by DJW001


That is an awesome photo, thanks for sharing. Shows how little I know - Phobos is tiny.

CJ

reply to post by CX

Have you ever seen Saturn through a telescope?
It actually looks like a cheesy special effect. It is that weird and that beautiful.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by CX

 

Have you ever seen Saturn through a telescope?
It actually looks like a cheesy special effect. It is that weird and that beautiful.

My wife said the same thing the first time I showed her Saturn through a telescope, it looks like a sticker on the inside of the eyepiece.

Cheers for the explanation.

Yeah it does look like some kind of sticker in space lol.

CX.

Beautiful picture! Thanks for sharing.

It's the best Phobos shot I ever seen

As for Deimos, I particularly like this one...



...taken by Hirise on March 2008 and that is a combination of two pictures taken 10 minutes apart for a stereo view.

reply to post by mee30

But aren't most modern cameras digital? The ones on our phones for example? The pictures I take on my phone do not appear to be fake... Am I missing something?

Yes. The "heart"of a digital camera is called a Charge Coupled Device, or CCD. It detects photons, but it does not see color. In order for a CCD to "see" color, the light must be passed through a filter of a particular wavelength and the intensity of the light measured. It then measures the amount of light passing through a filter of another color, and then another. When these exposures are "put together," or "stacked,"it approximates what a human eye would see, if the filters correspond to the peak sensitivities of the human eye. Scientists are interested in wavelengths that the human eye is not sensitive to, however. These wavelengths can reveal things like chemical composition. As a result, all color images from spacecraft (and even ground based telescopes) have to be "adjusted" to reflect human sight. Furthermore, a spacecraft in flight will often move between one filtered shot and another, forcing a certain amount of "photoshopping" to take place in order for the images to line up when they're stacked. I hope this explanation was not too confusing.

Originally posted by JayDub113
Nice post. I think that's awesome. You should stick to things like this, it suits you better.

A rather strange quote what exactly are you trying to say about DJW001

reply to post by wmd_2008

A rather strange quote what exactly are you trying to say about DJW001

He's venting his frustration with this thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Phage


I remember walking up several floors of a spiral staircase to get to a telescope to look at either Jupiter or Saturn.

Either way, it was one of the dullest things I've ever seen. I was disappointed that I walked up that many stairs and waited my turn to see something that looked fake and lacked definition.

Looking at the moon through binoculars or a kaleidoscope would have been more impressive.

The pictures taken by Hubble are just amazing by comparison.

reply to post by DJW001


Thanks for the explanation... to me though, it still seems strange why the terrain looks like a low resolution texture from a 10+ year old video game.

reply to post by Phage


I just have to agree, seeing Saturn through a telescope is pretty mind blowing. It does look cheesy and unreal.

Would someone who thinks the OP photo "looks fake" please tell me what a "real" photo of this subject should look like? I don't want to hear what it shouldn't look like. What would look real? please be specific.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by CX

 

Have you ever seen Saturn through a telescope?
It actually looks like a cheesy special effect. It is that weird and that beautiful.

This is so true. Every time I look at it I almost get the feeling one of my kids' toys is being suspended beyond my scope like some weird practical joke. It seems tiny, perfect and fake but I'm looking right at it!

Thanks for the beautiful image, OP.

Nice pics on both moons.

Thanks!