Mars Science Laboratory on its way - 2

Loading...

Sign in or sign up now!
Alert icon
Upgrade to the latest Flash Player for improved playback performance. Upgrade now or more info.
5,495
Loading...
Alert icon
Sign in or sign up now!
Alert icon

Uploaded by on Nov 26, 2011

On the 26th of November 2011, the Mars Science Laboratory was launched from Cape Canaveral. This timelapse sequence shows a plume drifting against the background stars, probably caused by venting from the Centaur rocket after it carried out a burn over the Indian Ocean.

This is a more detailed view of part of 'Mars Science Laboratory on its way - 1'.

Above the plume is the bright star Sirius, and above that, the open star cluster Messier 41.

This sequence was built from cropped & processed frames (originals: JPEG; 3504x2336, cropped to 739x1009).

Length of each exposure 10-seconds, but 2s between each, so exposure midpoints are 12s apart.

*********************************************************
NB: exposure times previously stated incorrectly.
See third video for correct details of full sequence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpghu6pCpcg
*********************************************************

Observing site: -27.630779,152.966324, altitude 40m approx.

Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium colleague Mark Rigby was observing visually, from about 16.15 UT, and assisted with initial analysis of the appearance of the plume. There are more images and discussion of this event on the Planetarium's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BrisbanePlanetarium

More info from Duncan Waldron: http://ausalba.weebly.com/contact.html (Twitter: @ozalba)

.............................

MSL is carrying the Curiosity rover vehicle to Mars, following the success of its predecessors Spirit and Opportunity.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

License:

Standard YouTube License

Link to this comment:

Share to:
see all

All Comments (0)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
Loading...

Alert icon
0 / 00Unsaved Playlist Return to active list
    1. Your queue is empty. Add videos to your queue using this button:
      or sign in to load a different list.
    Loading...Loading...Saving...
    • Clear all videos from this list
    • Learn more