Ganked whole and entire from Bad Astronomy:
Emily has what is simply The Coolest Picture Ever. It is that simple.That is exactly what you think it is: Phoenix descending to the Martian surface underneath its parachute. This incredible shot was taken by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. You can easily see the ‘chute, the lander (still in its shell) and even the tether lines!
Think on this, and think on it carefully: you are seeing a manmade object falling gracefully and with intent to the surface of an alien world, as seen by another manmade object already circling that world, both of them acting robotically, and both of them hundreds of million of kilometers away.
Never, ever forget: we did this. This is what we can do.
1 comment:
As impressive as this picture is, the original context is even more impressive: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080530.html
Note that what we're looking at here is not just a picture of an object taken against the sky; we're seeing it against the backdrop of a 10-km wide crater.
Damn right, we did this.
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