The Martian surface is rather barren….
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

For nearly the last year I’ve been following the various contemporary space missions on this blog. It probably all started last summer after finding the unique Zodiac from 1544, then this curiosity progressed to Google Sky & Stellarium, to seeing my first Moon Mars conjunction as well as Saturn for the first time in December, and most recently seeing Mercury Messenger‘s first photographs of the backside of Mercury and seeing Jupiter conjunct the Moon for the first time last week.

Today’s entry concerns the Phoenix Mars Mission which I’ve found to be pretty fun to learn about. The website consists of scientist blogs, near-realtime photographs and animations. Because it’s all happening in near-real time, it’s like you are exploring Mars alongside of the official scientists. Quite cool.

Related Space Entries:

• Time-lapse photograph of Mercury, Jupiter, and an airplane taking off
• A slightly blurry view of Mount Princeton from Buena Vista
• Time-Lapse Video of the Conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and a Crescent Moon in Washington, DC
• Astrophotography of the conjunction of the Crescent Moon, Venus, and Jupiter
• Timelapse Astrophotography of Venus & Jupiter nearing their conjunction
• Short NASA video of the 2004 Transit of Venus
• Harvest Moon in Washington, DC Timelapse Video
• The Precessional Pentagram of Venus
• Jupiter traveling through the night sky of Washington, DC
• The Use of the Analemma - As explained around 1780
• the Phoenix Mars Mission
• Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis - Analemma with the Parthenon
• The first glimpse of Mercury's horizon
• Staring at the Sun in Stellarium
• Mercury is nigh [flyby stimuli]
• The Grand Design Lenz Quilt
• Messier 101 Mandala [birth/death of a star]
• Moon Mars Conjunction
• Seen in the night sky last week
• An updated Armillary Sphere
• An Interactive Astrological Calendar from 1544 for Google Earth
• icarus