Martian Sunset…But Not As You Know It!
“Welcome to Mars! The home of beautiful red sunsets and romantic pink-hued views of Earth in an exotic Martian dusk…lazy summer evenings in Gale Crater relaxing in your rose-tinted deck chairs on the red Sands of Mars, sun hats glowing softly in cooling evening sun… watching the first glimmers of rising stars in the interstellar regions between the neighbouring gas giant Jupiter red oxide beaches of Mars… the distant howls of the Black wolves of Mars shimmering golden-red shades in the setting sun….all the ingredients of the perfect intergalactic holiday ”
But wait! Action replay!! This web page no longer exists! NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has just blown the whole intergalactic holiday guide to Mars straight out of the water!
“Welcome to Mars! The home of serene blue-hued sunsets and softly blue-tinged skies!! … What! What! Stunning blue sunsets on Mars!!! the distant howls of the Black wolves of Mars shimmering cool blue shades of azure light in the setting sun on the towering foothills of Mount Sharp….all the ingredients of the perfect intergalactic holiday …” REALLY?!!
Apparently so. Curiosity doesn’t tell ‘porkies’ and along with the images it kindly sent back to Earth it also saw fit to send a tweet too, so it must be true!
@Curiosity Rover “Let us go you and I…”
But WHY??!!! Are Curiosity and NASA finally losing it? Blue skies on Mars my Icewolfie paw!!! Hmm…well according to Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University – the Curiosity science-team member who planned the observations, maybe not…the theory goes like this….
“When the blue light scatters off the dust, it stays closer to the direction of the Sun than light of other colours does. The rest of the sky is yellow to orange, as yellow and red light scatter all over the sky instead of being absorbed or staying close to the Sun.
Just as colours are made more dramatic in sunsets on Earth, Martian sunsets make the blue near the sun’s part of the sky much more prominent, while normal daylight makes the rusty colour of the dust more prominent.”
So! What should have looked like this……
….apparently looks like this! Welll…maybe this is slightly exaggerated but hey! You get the general picture yes? ;}
The Curiosity rover gathered enough evidence from around where it landed in Gale Crater (August 2012) to give firm grounds for believing that billions of years in Mars’ past a lake and stream system existed with the potential for habitation.
Today, 3 years later in 2015, Curiosity is hard at work in the centre of Gale Crater checking out Mt. Sharp which soars 3.4 miles (5.5 km) into the alien skies of Mars. Its numerous layers of rock (Mt Sharp that is not Curiosity ) contain the key to historic environmental situation variants that have occurred on Mars across the centuries. The purpose of Curiosity’s mission here is to discover how Mars developed from a comparatively temperate and moist world somewhere back in the dim and distant past to the cold, arid desert wilderness world it has transformed into in the present times.
Needless to say mission scientists are yet to discover what any self-respecting intergalactic tourist to the Red Planet is fully aware of, from long nights spent lounging in the BLUE Martian sunsets in their favourite deck chair – the presence of “The Black Wolves of Mars,” howling lyrically long into the alien nights!
Sources:
Space.com
Press Trust of India/Washington – The Indian Express
While the evening is spread out upon the sky,
like a patient
etherized upon a table……..
Fascinating post about a fascinating planet, especially with the rover discoveries. Let’s go there, you and I, with Wolfie of course for back up~
Let’s go indeed Cindy! And Wolfie would love it!! Likewise I love your words here….” while the evening is spread….” Very cool! 🙂
Wolfie!
Most excellent post; you did your research well. And, you’ve learned a lot about image manipulation… all great pix. Well done…. Still don’t like the font against the background, (can be hard to read for these old eyes…), but, the background is definitely too cool to change….
Nice!
gigoid, the dubious
😎
The font is an ongoing problem and I’m still trying to figure out a working solution to it…sorry for the problems it’s causing you and probably plenty of others. But thank you for taking a look despite this and for your kind comment….it’s a pity I can’t come up with some way to manipulate the background image to!! 😉
The only thing I could suggest would make the background less prominent, but would hide a lot of what makes it so cool… and would involve changing your theme, to one you’re not used to… Perhaps… create the text portion in, say, Word, or Word Perfect, then, create a PDF document, which you can then post like a picture, so all the background is in the background… I don’t know how much technical expertise you have, but, that sounds like the simplest way…
Otherwise, don’t worry about it…. Just use the brightest colors you can for text, to stand out against the dark parts of the background…
I’m using one, or more of the pictures, by the way, in upcoming Pearls, with, of course, links back to your site…
See ’round WP, Wolfie, my dear…
gigoid, the dubious…
I might try that it’s not something I’d thought of 🙂 Saw the notification thingy for the pics on your blog – cool! I will be paying a visit when I get 5 mins. .. rare at the moment but I’m determined to grab back some free time one way or the other. WordPress is the only thing keeping me sane sometimes! 😉
My blog has kept me sane for almost four years now…. It works fine, trust me….
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
gigoid, the dubiously sane
😎
Yes…It has done a very impressive job! lol… 😉 Trust me… !! Dubiously sane Wolfie hovering on the brink of!! 😀
Underbart blogginlägg Wolfie.. tack för att du delar med dig av mycket intressanta saker..
Massor av kramar från Nicki
Tack Nicki;)
Var tvungen att läggas mentioned!
Vem tänka fanns blå solnedgångar på Mars !!
Kram Wolfie 🙂
Loved your post Wolfie.. and I think I believe a Wolfie over those scientists any day.. and your image screening I am sure is much more accurate and up to date.. I mean 2012.. Lots of dust must have settled on the horizon since then 🙂
Your Graphics are Brill…….. sending big hooooowwwwllllllllls your way Wolfie… And hope you enjoy the Full Moon spectacle .. Take care out there and hope you feel more rested.. Hugs Sue xxx
Oh yes! lol 2012… 😉 hmm! Quite a year that! And yes lol my image screening is much more up to date and accurate 🙂 Thanks for the heads up on the Full Moon which had managed to slip my attention. .. It was a beautiful sight and is looking pretty lovely tonight too 🙂 Wolfie hugs! xx
Good to see your howls.. 🙂 Love and Hugs my friend xxx
The moon was visible yesterday morning too in a clear blue sky, that unfortunately didn’t last too long.. I hope you have a fantastic week.. Don’t work too hard .. Hugs your way my dear four legged friend xxx 😉
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Your illustrations are beautiful. The blue sunset made me think of icy mountains and lots of snow to play in.
Clowieeee! I’m so glad to see you again! I suddenly realised you hadn’t been heard of for ages and I’d better check if you were still around and bang! You arrived here same day 🙂 I hope you and your bipeds are ok I will be over soon to see if I’ve missed anything. Yes…I thought of you all snowy white playing in the ice and snow in a lovely blue sunset! Then I thought chickens! lol 😉
I must admit that the thought of chickens crossed my mind as well!
I’m okay, thank you, and so are the bipeds, but I haven’t always had as much computer time as I’d like.
I paid a flying visit to yours and I see I have missed the odd one or two posts… lol 😉 I seem to get notifications for Martian chickens on flyby courtesy of NASA but no Clowie notifications from W/P! I have adjusted the timescale for my visit to a whole evening ok!! That should be long enough to catch up with everything I missed 🙂
Maybe I’m in your spam folder – if I am I’ve probably cleared out the spam for you! It isn’t as good as chicken!
You’ve probably cleaned out the deleted folder actually! That’s where most of them end up that are supposed to go to the inbox! The inbox is chocablock full of chickens!! I’m on my way over to you now 🙂
The last time I was there, Icewolf, the sky was indeed blue. The bluest blue. Bluer than the bluest blue in fact. It may have changed now.
I hope they find a fossil or two there; if not, some sort of living being… anything’s possible!
Well you obviously didn’t keep me informed! lol … terrible 😉 But it’s good to know my images were probably more accurate than I first thought 😉 Anything is indeed possible! The Black Wolves of Mars for example!! The blue may have morphed a little since your last visit … I understand there are auroras to be seen too but that’s for another post lol 😉
Önskar dig en underbar helg Wolfie och hoppas du har samma vama och fina väder som jag har.. massor av kramar till dig från Nicki XXX
Jag sålde en dator i helgen! Det var en hemsk dator så det var en mycket bra sak att göra i helgen! Jag väntar nu på en återbetalning på försäkringen 🙂
Jag hoppas att ni haft en härlig helg för till och massor av kramar för dig också.
Kram Wolfie 🙂 xx
Hoppas du snart får en ny och fin dator.. Massor av kramar från Nicki
Vacker bild Nicki!
Du har en stor dag för 🙂
Kram Wolfie 🙂
Can’t say I would ever book a trip to the red planet but learning about our neighbors is certainly very interesting. Thank you for this fantastic post on current events taking place and what developments have occurred.
No…don’t blame you Eddie…don’t think the environment would suit you too well 🙂
Beautiful pics!
Always good to be appreciated Kev 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend 😉
Likewise. 🙂
Schöner Beitrag lieber Freund ich wünsche dir von Herzen ein gutes und schönes Weekend Grüße und Umarmung Gislinde
Danke liebe Freundin Gislinde
Ich wünsche Ihnen ein schönes Wochenende zu und ich werde sehr bald zu einem Besuch in Ihrem Blog
Ich versuche, um aufzuholen mit jeder
aber ich habe meine Hand verletzt und hatte eine große Nadel in es gestern stecken …
Ich kann es nicht verwenden sehr gut und es ist sehr schmerzhaft!
Also ich kann nur für kurze Zeit geben für heute.
Wolfie Umarmung 🙂
Instead of talking about this trip I think
that we should grab our spacesuits and
leave orbit. We will have lots of supplies
on board the ship, including some Icy
snacks, those are the big chocolate bars
with added yumminess, we will need to
build up our stamina on this trip 🙂 Hey
for the Mars landing I meant, not what you
were thinking that’s for sure 😉 lol
Don’t forget your bikini either as there are
some glorious red sands to explore, I might
even give you some on the shore, nooooo
I mean I might give you some red wine on
the shore as being on the red planet without
having a toast would be outrageous, I will
also bring along a present for you in the
guise of some Martian flip flops, I just know
that you will adore the monster mash motifs
and they are extra comfy too, so don’t worry
about anything 🙂 Luckily there are none of
those washing lines with holey socks on them
so that is another bonus 🙂 Get ready for our
blast off, it is going to be awesome Icywolfy 🙂
By the way I love your posting 🙂
Andro xxx
We definitely need to build our stamina up Andro! We will undoubtedly be very active on this trip to the Red Planet….lol 😉 Very nice of you to offer to give me some…red wine!!..on the shores of Mars 🙂 we should absolutely toast our activities on those sandy red beaches 😀 I have chosen a special gothic bikini which leaves nothing….I mean something lol though not much 😉 to the imagination and it will look wonderful with the Martian flip flops….I hope you brought us some Martian Hiking boots too for that covet trip you suggested we made up Mount Scarp to explore the inner workings of Mars…the monster mash motifs on the flip flops will no doubt be transferable to the hiking boots! 🙂 xxx
Jatack Wolfie min helg blev okay 2 regniga dagar och sen en solig och härlig avslutning 🙂
Idag ja en stor sol härligt..
Kram till dig XXX Nicki
Wish you a great and wonderful Weekend Wolfie..
Lots af hugs // Nicki
Good Morning !!
Wish you a long queue and lovely weekend …
Lots of hugs from Stockholm // Nicki
Just dropping in to wish you a good Weekend Wolfie.. Hope the hand is healed and you are well.. Love and warm Hugs your way xxx Sue ❤
Wishing you a good weekend too Sue 🙂 Hope all is good with you, it’s been so hot here I haven’t had the energy to get online unless it’s via the mobile 🙂 Today is cold and wet so had a laptop day and caught up with all the updating and maintenance jobs 🙂 Which reminds me…washing! It’s still in the machine and it’s 12:22 pm!! Anyway thanks for asking about my hand 🙂 It’s a lot better amazingly enough. Has it’s odd moments just after i wake up and at the end of the long day but hopefully that will pass. So yes…it’s doing great thank you. And I hope you are too! Wolfie hugs xx
We are fine Wolfie.. and good job you got the washing.. Not a great drying day here today.. Raining.. but the gardens need it.. and it will give our arms a rest from carrying the watering cans 🙂 xxx
Danke lieber Freund wünsche dir auch ein gutes sonniges Wochenende lieber Gruß und eine große Umarmung Gislinde