MSGID: 1:153/757.0 698b355c
TZUTC: -0700
CHRS: LATIN-1 2
                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2025 May 17

                 Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited
              Image Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA

   Explanation: This close-up from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's
   HiRISE camera shows weathered craters and windblown deposits in
   southern Acidalia Planitia. A striking shade of blue in standard HiRISE
   image colors, to the human eye the area would probably look grey or a
   little reddish. But human eyes have not gazed across this terrain,
   unless you count the eyes of NASA astronauts in the sci-fi novel, "The
   Martian," by Andy Weir. The novel chronicles the adventures of Mark
   Watney, an astronaut stranded at the fictional Mars mission Ares 3
   landing site, corresponding to the coordinates of this cropped HiRISE
   frame. For scale, Watney's 6-meter-diameter habitat at the site would
   be about 1/10th the diameter of the large crater. Of course, the Ares 3
   landing coordinates are only about 800 kilometers north of the (real
   life) Carl Sagan Memorial Station, the 1997 Pathfinder landing site.

                     Tomorrow's picture: fly over pluto
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
 * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
SEEN-BY: 4/0 19/10 88/0 90/0 93/1 105/81 106/201 128/187 129/14 305
SEEN-BY: 134/100 153/135 143 148 151 757 6809 7083 7715 154/110 218/700
SEEN-BY: 218/840 221/1 6 360 226/30 227/114 229/110 114 206 307 317
SEEN-BY: 229/400 426 428 470 664 700 705 266/512 291/111 301/1 320/219
SEEN-BY: 322/757 335/364 341/66 200 342/200 396/45 460/58 633/280
SEEN-BY: 712/848 880/1 900/0 102 106 902/0 19 26 905/0 5019/40 5020/400
SEEN-BY: 5075/35
PATH: 153/757 221/6 341/66 902/26 229/426