Image of the Phoenix Lander
The HiRise camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took this image of the Phoenix Lander with its 'chute deployed. The first time one spacecraft has taken a picture of another.
K. // A linky diarist.
K. // A linky diarist.
With all the orbital missions at the various planets in our solar system, scientists have been able to glean an amazing amount of data to help us understand our neighboring worlds. But imagine a mission that could fly lower than orbital altitudes – actually flying in the atmosphere of another planet and closer to the surface – and imagine how much more detailed the data could be.
The remains of pigments have been spotted in a fossilized bird feather. The work could point the way to determining the colour of feathers on long-extinct creatures, from birds to dinosaurs.
