Sunset... from another planet
Here's one of my favourite ever shots from our exploration of the solar system so far.
Taken by NASA's Spirit rover, the image shows the sun setting below the Martian horizon.
Spirit acquired this view of the Martian sunset from Gusev Crater on April 23, 2005.
Using data from images such as this, scientists have learned that twilight on Mars is longer than on Earth, lasting for up to two hours before sunrise or after sunset.
Dust high in the atmosphere scatters light to the night side of the planet. Similar twilights are seen on Earth following major volcanic eruptions.
Click on the image to embiggen - beware, though, it's huge so you might have to drag the enlarged image onto your desktop to get the best view. Worth it.
By the way, fancy seeing blue clouds on Mars? Then click here.
Weird Science Factoid: A man gets robbed in London every 4.5 minutes. He must be getting really fed up!
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Daniel Smith - a long time ago, in a galaxy far away just north of Watford, Daniel fancied himself as a scientist but turned out to be the worst scientist since that bloke who mapped out all those canals on Mars that turned out to be scratches on his telescope's lens. Luckily, he is now not working on the Large Hadron Collider inadvertently creating a black hole that would swallow the world but is safely behind a desk writing this blog, bringing you the fantastical underbelly of nature... weird science.
Probably my favorite pic too
I think we need to bring more ideas for this point. Involvement of young people can be handy in this regard. I am happy to find a good job here.