Public-domain ebook
by Bob Webster
Language: en21,058 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Science - Earth/Agricultural/Farming·Engineering & Technology
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #12082.
Bob Webster’s Color Images from Mars Rovers is a visual‑focused nonfiction work that assembles NASA’s raw black‑and‑white rover photographs into “living color” composites. The opening pages explain how the author downloaded the raw image sets, combined filters ranging from ultraviolet to infrared, and used his own Photo Mud software to produce color renditions of the Spirit and Opportunity panoramas. Detailed notes on camera types, filter bandwidths, and the timing of each exposure accompany the pictures, giving readers a technical sense of how the hues were derived and why some images appear “a little weird” due to missing spectral bands.
The tone is that of an enthusiastic hobbyist‑scientist writing in the early 2000s, mixing straightforward description with occasional humor (“Mars Attacks!”) and hands‑on instructions. Its style will appeal to readers who enjoy the intersection of planetary science, photography, and DIY image processing, particularly amateur astronomers, space‑enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the practical challenges of turning Martian data into vivid visual narratives.
The opening · free to read
Thanks to Bob Webster for making these images available. They are recombinations of images with different colored filters. All images are courtesy of NASA/JPL and in the public domain in the United States.
Mars Attacks!
I was browsing the NASA web site for photos from the Mars rovers, but most of them are black and white. Then I noticed they have the raw images posted that can be combined into color photos, so I combined a bunch of them into "living color." Here they are:
Mars in Color, from “Opportunity” Opportunity Photos Mars in Color, from “Spirit” Spirit Photos
The color is not perfect on these, but it should be in the neighborhood. There are a lot of variables. The cameras are calibrated differently from time to time, there are different bandwidths available in different images, and the sun is at different angles.
In these photos, 3 to 6 images were taken, one after another, using different bandwidth filters. There may be 5 minutes pass from the first to the last image, so a shadow may move a little bit during that time. An interesting effect of this is an occasional rainbow strip on the edge of shadows.
The image file names include information such as camera type, time taken, location, etc. Here is the full info:
http://origin.mars5.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/edr_filename_key.html
The image on this site have the filter and sometimes the Left or Right designator removed. If L or R is missing, then they were taken with the Left camera, which uses visible light filters.
These images were taken with the panoramic camera, because it's the one that uses color filters. The filters used vary from image to image. The available filters are:
The book keeps going
Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.
Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.
New illustrated classics
Once or twice a month: the latest books to get full character casts, scene art, and free comic editions. No account needed.
