Articles
From the Summer, 2008 PGMC 'Gem'

A compass is crucial in finding direction in the middle of a forest, sea or even in a city. A simple tool based on the earth's magnetic field that has been around for centuries, the compass will, if used correctly, find the right direction.

Steps To "take a bearing"; i.e. use a compass to find your direction of travel

   1. Place the compass flat on your palm, and your palm in front of your chest.
   2. Point the direction of travel arrow in the direction you wish to take a bearing.
   3. Rotate the compass housing until the orienting arrow (on the compass housing) lines up with the north end of the magnetic compass needle.
   4. Read off the bearing marked on the edge of the compass housing that aligns with the direction of travel arrow.
   5. You can now plot the direction you have just taken a bearing of on the map. Take off local magnetic variation (i.e. take off the difference between magnetic and true north) by rotating the compass housing. Place the compass on the map, holding both horizontally, and rotate the whole compass to line up the orienting arrow and lines with the map's North lines. Move the compass so that its edge passes through your current position and maintains its alignment with the map's North line.
   6. Draw a line through your current position and along the compass' edge. Your path from your current position will be along the line along the edge of the compass if you maintain this bearing.

To "follow a bearing"; i.e. use a compass to walk in the right direction

   1. Hold map horizontally and place compass on the map.
   2. Adjust compass so its edge passes through your current position and the position you intend to walk to.
   3. Rotate the compass housing until the orienting arrow and lines are parallel with the North lines of the map.
   4. Put the map away. Read off the bearing reading from the compass housing and add local value of magnetic variation.
   5. Hold compass horizontally with the direction of travel arrow pointing away from you. Turn to face in a direction where the North needle lines up with the orienting arrow on the compass housing.
   6. Look down the direction of travel arrow and focus on an object in the middle distance that it points to e.g. tree, telegraph pole etc. Walking towards this object will take you towards your intended position.
   7. If visibility is limited and you cannot see any distant objects use another member of your walking party. Ask them to walk away from you in the direction indicated by the direction of travel arrow as you stay in the same spot. Call out to correct their direction as they walk. When they approach the edge of visibility ask them to wait until you catch up.
   8. When you reach the object you selected or the person you are directing make another bearing by repeating these steps.

To triangulate - finding your current position using bearings on visible landmarks

   1. Choose 3 prominent landmarks that you can see and also find on your map. These should be as widely spread around your field of view as possible.
   2. Aim the compass' direction of travel arrow at the landmark and take a bearing.
   3. Adjust for magnetic variation.
   4. Place the compass on the map and orientate it so the edge of the compass passes through the landmark on the map and the North lines on the compass housing line up with the map's north lines.
   5. Draw a line along the edge of the compass through the landmark and your approximate position.
   6. Repeat for each landmark to produce a small triangle where the lines intersect. Your position is inside this triangle, the size of which depends on the accuracy of your bearings. More accurate bearings reduce the size of the triangle and, with lots of practice, you may get the lines to intersect at one point.

The term 'needles of obsidian' refers to a naturally occurring fragment of obsidian that is basically rod like in shape. Needles can be any where from the size of a pencil lead to that of a three-foot section of four-by-four.

As obsidian cools beyond the threshold of crystallization, it contracts and fractures. Usually the pattern of shattering is pretty random, creating pieces of varying size and shape. In any large obsidian flow there may be a few long thin pieces just because of chance. In a few flows, however, the entire formation has an over all tendency to produce needles. No one has ever seen this occur, so theories as to the origin of needles are only that: theories. The one that I favor, which was developed by an actual geologist from Humboldt University some twenty-five years ago, is that the needles formed in an already existing obsidian flow when it was bisected by a fault line. The resulting earth movement flaked the rock along parallel axis at 90 degrees, the result being needles.

At every site where I have found more than random needles, there seems to be a general matrix with needle sizes ranging from hair-like to honkers of up to thirty inches; but please, feel free to come up with a theory of your own. Perhaps they were left by aliens or are some kind of weird communist plot.

At any rate the needles are the second key to the wonderful and amazing tones that our chimes produce. The shapes allow the sympathetic vibrations to build up and emote.  Needles of obsidian are relatively rare and little known. Over the years, we have found several places in Oregon and California where we are permitted to dig them.
http://www.obsidianwindchimes.com/about3.htm 

Alexandrite: Birthstone for June
The Gemstone Alexandrite is the color changing variety of the mineral Chrysoberyl. The June Birthstone, its color varies from red to green depending upon the light source. It is an alternate (modern) Zodiac stone for the constellation of Gemini.

Alexandrite is named for the former czar of Russia, Alexander II, and was first discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia, supposedly on the day of his birth.

Chromium gives alexandrite its color and while, in most minerals, a trace element like chromium would provide only one color to the mineral, in alexandrite it gives it two! Coloring agents are dependent on the wavelength of light and the chemical bonds in the crystal to determine the color that they will cause. An element like copper, in normal light, can cause a green color in malachite and a blue color in azurite, it all depends on the character of the chemical bonding. In a single specimen of alexandrite, the chromium is in such a balanced situation that the color of the specimen depends on the character of light that hits the crystal. If the light is natural sunlight or fluorescent light, the crystal will be green; however, if the light is incandescent light from a common indoor light bulb, then the crystal will appear red.

Synthetic corundums spiked with trace elements that yield an alexandrite-like color change are sold as alexandrite on the gemstone market. These stones have a red-violet, near-amethyst color in incandescent light and a blue-violet color in daylight. They are far cheaper than natural alexandrites, which are some of the rarest and most expensive of gemstones.

http://www.galleries.com/minerals/gemstone/alexandr/birthJUN.htm 

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Ruby: Birthstone for July
The gemstone ruby is the red variety of the mineral Corundum , the second hardest natural mineral known to mankind. Ruby is the July birthstone, and the Capricorn Zodiac stone.

All colors of corundum other than red or white are called Sapphire The red color in ruby is caused by trace amounts of the element chromium. The best shade of red for ruby is often given the name "pigeon blood red", but ruby can be any shade of red up to almost pink. Oriented rutile crystal inclusions cause a six-rayed-star light effect (called asterism) to form the popular Star Ruby.

Rubies come from all over the world but good gemstones are found at Thailand, India, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, North Carolina in the U.S., Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Tanzania, Kampuchea, and perhaps most notably, Burma.

Like most gemstones from the antiquities, Ruby is one of the Biblestones. In Exodus, the Breastplate of Aaron is described as containing a "sardius", the ancient name for ruby.  Rubies have a famous place in science - the first lasers were made from artificial ruby crystals.  They still are used for this purpose although other materials offer improved efficiency.  Some natural ruby crystals show the fluorescence (actually very short term phosphorescence) that makes a laser possible.

http://www.galleries.com/minerals/gemstone/ruby/birthjul.htm

Peridot: Birthstone for August
Peridot (pronounced pair-a-doe) is the gem variety of olivine. Peridot is the birthstone for August and the Zodiac stone for the constellation Libra (astrological sources refer to peridot as Chrysolite).

Olivine, which is actually not an official mineral, is composed of two minerals: fayalite and forsterite. Fayalite is the iron rich member and forsterite is the magnesium rich member. Olivine's formula is written as (Mg, Fe)2SiO4 to show the substitution of the magnesium and iron. Peridot is usually closer to forsterite than fayalite in composition although iron is the coloring agent for peridot. The best colored peridot has an iron percentage of less than 15% and includes nickel and chromium as trace elements that may also contribute to the best peridot color.

Gem quality peridot comes from the ancient source of Zagbargad (Zebirget) Island in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt; Mogok, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma); Kohistan, Pakistan; Minas Gerais, Brazil; Eifel, Germany; Chihuahua, Mexico; Ethiopia; Australia; Peridot Mesa, San Carlos Apache Reservation, Gila County, Arizona and Salt Lake Crater, Oahu, Hawaii, USA. The best quality peridot has historically come either from Myanmar or Egypt. But new sources in Pakistan are challenging that claim with some exceptional specimens. The Arizona gem material is of lesser quality, but is far more abundant and is therefore much more affordable. An estimated 80 - 95% of all world production of peridot comes from Arizona. The Myanmar, Pakistani and Egyptian gems are rarer and of better quality and thus quite valuable approaching the per carat values of top gemstones. Possibly the most unusual peridot is that which comes from iron-nickel meteorites called pallasites. Some are actually facetted and set in jewelry.

Peridot is perhaps derived from the French word peritot which means unclear, probably due to the inclusions and cloudy nature of large stones. It could also be named from the Arabic word faridat which means gem. In either case, peridot has been mined as a gemstone for an estimated four thousand years or better, and is mentioned in the Bible under the Hebrew name of pitdah (see Biblestones). Peridot gems along with other gems were probably used in the fabled Breastplates of the Jewish High Priest, artifacts that have never been found. The Greeks and Romans referred to peridot as topazion and topazius respectively and this name was later given to topaz, to end the confusion with the two gems. Historical legend has it that peridot was the favorite gemstone of Cleopatra. Pliny wrote about the green stone from Zagbargad Island in 1500 B.C.. Even until recently jewelers have used the term "chrysolite" (latin for golden stone) in referring to peridot gems for some reason. This term has also been used to refer to other gemstones, of a more golden color.

Olivine has the same overall composition as the Earth's mantle, and thus can be considered to be the most common mineral INSIDE the Earth (the 1600 mile wide solid iron core is second). In a sense then, peridot may be by far the most common gemstone. Some volcanoes, including Hawaii, occasionally produce sands which are composed of transparent green grains of peridot. On the Big Island, the sands mostly appear black except on a beach near the southernmost tip of the island.

http://www.galleries.com/minerals/gemstone/peridot/birthaug.htm 

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Minerals from Another World
Follow the lastest discoveries from NASA, as Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity continue to explore, experiment and send back images from Mars.These rugged Rovers were expected to last about 3 months on the hostile Red Planet, before their batteries gave out and they fell silent. At the time of this writing, they have far exceeded expectations and have been exploring and sending data for over a year. I will continue to add these wonderful pictures as long as they keep coming.
Large Image of the Red Planet _ Mars Wallpaper: 800 x 600 __1024 x 768

Recent highlights:

7/20/07		Dust Storm Time Lapse Shows Opportunity's Skies Darken NASA's Opportunity rover is literally seeing some of its darkest days. Both Mars Exploration Rovers have been riding out a regional dust storm for several weeks. Conditions became particularly dreary in the Meridiani Planum region where Opportunity sits, perched on the edge of "Victoria Crater." Read more
2/5/07		Spirit's Winter Panorama (Labeled) Since April of 2006, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been sojourning in a place called "Winter Haven," where the robotic geologist spent several months parked on a north-facing slope in order to keep its solar panels pointed toward the sun...Read More
8/7/06		Opportunity Approaches the Bowl of Beagle Crater: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity acquired this false-color image of the rim of the 35-meter (115-foot) diameter Beagle Crater on Martian day, or sol, 894 (July 30, 2006) using the panoramic camera's 753-nanometer, 535-nanometer, and 432-nanometer filters. At the time the rover was about 25 meters (82 feet) from Beagle Crater, looking east-southeast. Read More
5/5/06		Spirit Beholds Bumpy Boulder: As NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit began collecting images for a 360-degree panorama of new terrain, the rover captured this view of a dark boulder with an interesting surface texture. The boulder sits about 40 centimeters (16 inches) tall on Martian sand about 5 meters (16 feet) away from Spirit. It is one of many dark, volcanic rock fragments -- many pocked with rounded holes called vesicles -- littering the slope of "Low Ridge." Read More
3/27/06		Spirit Says Goodbye to 'Home Plate': For the past several weeks, Spirit has been examining spectacular layered rocks exposed at "Home Plate." The rover has been driving around the northern and eastern edges of Home Plate, on the way to "McCool Hill." Before departing, Spirit took this image showing some of the most complex layering patterns seen so far at this location. Read More....
2/17/06		Revealing Roosevelt: This image mosaic from the microscopic imager aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows detailed structure of a small fin-like structure dubbed "Roosevelt," which sticks out from the outcrop pavement at the edge of "Erebus Crater." Read More.
2/17/06		Spirit Hits a Home Run: This week, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit arrived at "Home Plate," a feature that, when seen from orbit, looks like the home plate of a baseball diamond. Home Plate is a roughly circular feature about 80 meters (260 feet) in diameter that might be an old impact crater or volcanic feature. Read More.
1/20/06		Salty Expression (False Color) NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit spent the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend analyzing a remarkable exposure of bright, loose material. Spirit discovered the material while driving toward "Home Plate" along the floor of the basin south of "Husband Hill" in Gusev Crater. These images from Spirit's panoramic camera (Pancam) show some of the most colorful deposits yet photographed on the surface of Mars. Read More
9/9/05		Two Moons Passing in the Night: Taking advantage of extra solar energy collected during the day, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit settled in for an evening of stargazing, photographing the two moons of Mars as they crossed the night sky. "It is incredibly cool to be running an observatory on another planet," said planetary scientist Jim Bell of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., lead scientist for the panoramic cameras on Spirit and Opportunity. Read More
9/1/05		Rind-Like Features at a Meridiani Outcrop: After months spent crossing a sea of rippled sands, Opportunity reached an outcrop in August 2005 and began investigating exposures of sedimentary rocks, intriguing rind-like features that appear to cap the rocks, and cobbles that dot the martian surface locally. Read More
6/10/05		A Moment Frozen in Time: On May 19th, 2005, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This Panoramic Camera (Pancam) mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover's 489th martian day, or sol. Spirit was commanded to stay awake briefly after sending that sol's data to the Mars Odyssey orbiter just before sunset. Read more... Mars Sunset Wallpaper: 800x600 or 1024x768
4/29/05		'Lookout Panorama' from Spirit: This is the Spirit panoramic camera's "Lookout" panorama, acquired on the rover's 410th to 413th martian days, or sols (Feb. 27 to Mar. 2, 2005). The view is from a position known informally as "Larry's Lookout" along the drive up "Husband Hill." Read More 224K Image
4/21/05		Movie Clip Shows Whirlwinds Carrying Dust on Mars: This movie clip shows a dust devil scooting across a plain inside Gusev Crater on Mars as seen from the NASA rover Spirit's hillside vantage point during the rover's 456th martian day, or sol (April 15, 2005). The individual images were taken about 20 seconds apart by Spirit's navigation camera. Read More
4/11/05		Scientists Contemplate Tilting of Rock Layers on Mars: Gazing across the landscape of the "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater on Mars, scientists think they have been seeing hints of tilted rock layers across the area traversed by the rover...One possible explanation for these ridges is that they were formed by tilted layers of sediment that were more resistant to erosion and now stand in relief above the surrounding surface...Read More
2/4/05		Still Giving Thanks for Good Health: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this full-circle panorama of the region near "Husband Hill" (the peak just to the left of center) over the Thanksgiving holiday, before ascending farther. Both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers are still going strong, more than a year after landing on Mars. Read More 360° animated view. (File Size: 6.9 mb; Quicktime: Download plugin)
1/19/05		Iron Meteorite on Mars: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found an iron meteorite on Mars, the first meteorite of any type ever identified on another planet. The pitted, basketball-size object is mostly made of iron and nickel. Readings from spectrometers on the rover determined that composition. Read More
11/4/04		Spirit Adds Clues About History of Rocks in Martian Hills Full Press Release Layers in 'Tetl': NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has examined the layered structure of this rock, called "Tetl," in the "Columbia Hills." This approximately true-color view was made from frames taken by Spirit's panoramic camera on the rover's 264th martian day....Read More
10/7/04		'Escher' Rock: This false-color image taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows a rock dubbed "Escher" on the southwestern slopes of "Endurance Crater." Scientists believe the rock's fractures, which divide the surface into polygons, may have been formed by one of several processes...Read More
8/6/04		"Endurance Crater's" Dazzling Dunes: (false-color): As NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity creeps farther into "Endurance Crater," the dune field on the crater floor appears even more dramatic. This false-color image taken by the rover's panoramic camera shows that the dune crests have accumulated more dust than the flanks of the dunes and the flat surfaces between them. Read More
7/16/04		Chlorine Goes Deep: This image taken by the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the layers of bedrock that line the walls of "Endurance Crater." Opportunity has been inching down the crater walls, investigating distinct layers of rock for clues to Mars' buried past. The various layers are labeled here as "A" through "F." Targets within these layers, including millstone, are also indicated.Read More
6/25/04		'Endurance' Tells Story of Mars' History: This false-color image shows the area inside "Endurance Crater" that the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been examining. The rover is currently investigating the distinct layers of rock that make up this region. Each layer is defined by subtle color and texture variations and represents a separate chapter in Mars' history. Read More
6/15/04		'Tennessee' Clues: This false-color image shows the area within "Endurance Crater," currently being investigated by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The rover is inspecting a hole it drilled into a flat rock (center) dubbed "Tennessee," which scientists believe may be made up of the same evaporite-rich materials as those found in "Eagle Crater." Read More
6/15/04		Crater of Clues: This 360-degree panorama shows "Endurance Crater" and the surrounding plains of Meridiani Planum. This is the second large panoramic camera mosaic of Endurance, and was obtained from a high point near the crater's south rim. Read More Large Panoramic Image
6/2/04		The Colors of "Endurance": This false-color image shows visible mineral changes between the materials that make up the rim of the impact crater known as "Endurance." The image was taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity using all 13 color filters. The cyan blue color denotes basalts, whereas the dark green color denotes a mixture of iron oxide and basaltic materials. Reds and yellows indicate dusty material containing sulfates. Read More
4/15/04		Mars Rover Finds Rock Resembling Meteorites That Fell to Earth: NASA's Opportunity rover has examined an odd volcanic rock on the plains of Mars' Meridiani Planum region with a composition unlike anything seen on Mars before, but scientists have found similarities to meteorites that fell to Earth. Read More
4/15/04		Smooth Side of 'Route 66': This image was taken by the microscopic imager onboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on sol 99 (April 13, 2004). It is a close-up look at a portion of the rock called "Route 66," which was brushed by the rover's rock abrasion tool. This image intrigues scientists because it looks very different from the microscopic images taken of other brushed rocks at the Gusev Crater location. Read More
4/1/04		Spirit Finds Multi-Layer Hints of Past Water at Mars' Gusev Site: Clues from a wind-scalloped volcanic rock on Mars investigated by NASA's Spirit rover suggest repeated possible exposures to water inside Gusev Crater, scientists said Thursday. Gusev is halfway around the planet from the Meridiani region where Spirit's twin, Opportunity, recently found evidence that water used to flow across the surface. Read More
3/23/04		Standing Body of Water Left Its Mark in Mars Rocks: NASA's Opportunity rover has demonstrated some rocks on Mars probably formed as deposits at the bottom of a body of gently flowing saltwater. "We think Opportunity is parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University...Read More
3/18/04		Spirit's Destination (panorama): This panoramic image mosaic from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit panoramic camera, shows the rover's destination toward the hills nicknamed the "Columbia Hills," on the right. The rover's heatshield can be seen on the left as a tiny bright dot in the distance, just under the horizon. Dark drift material can be seen in the image center. Read More Large Panoramic Image
3/18/04		Mineral in Mars 'Berries' Adds to Water Story: A major ingredient in small mineral spheres analyzed by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity furthers understanding of past water at Opportunity's landing site and points to a way of determining whether the vast plains surrounding the site also have a wet history. Read More
3/18/04		A Bowl of Hematite-Rich 'Berries': This graph shows two spectra, or light signatures, of outcrop regions near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site. The blue line shows data for a region dubbed "Berry Bowl," which contains a handful of the sphere-like grains dubbed "blueberries." Read More
3/2/04		The Texture of El Capitan: This image, taken by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, shows a close up of the rock dubbed "El Capitan," located in the rock outcrop at Meridiani Planum, Mars. This image shows fine, parallel lamination in the upper area of the rock, which also contains scattered sphere-shaped objects ranging from 1 to 2 millimeters (.04 to .08 inches) in size. Read More
3/11/04		The Minerals at 'El Capitan': The white curve in this image shows the spectrum, or light signature, of a region of rock outcrop dubbed "El Capitan" near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site. The data were taken by rover's miniature thermal emission spectrometer instrument, located on its panoramic camera mast assembly. Read More
3/2/04		Opportunity Rover Finds Strong Evidence Meridiani Planum Was Wet: Scientists have concluded the part of Mars that NASA's Opportunity rover is exploring was soaking wet in the past. Evidence the rover found in a rock outcrop led scientists to the conclusion. Clues from the rocks' composition, such as the presence of sulfates, and the rocks' physical appearance, such as niches where crystals grew, helped make the case for a watery history. Read More
3/2/04		Mineral Tells Tale of Watery Past: This spectrum, taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's Moessbauer spectrometer, shows the presence of an iron-bearing mineral called jarosite in the collection of rocks dubbed "El Capitan." "El Capitan" is located within the rock outcrop that lines the inner edge of the small crater where Opportunity landed. The pair of yellow peaks specifically indicates a jarosite phase, which contains water in the form of hydroxyl as a part of its structure. Read More
2/20/04		Plotting and Scheming: This graphic is a planning tool used by Mars Exploration Rover engineers to plot and scheme the perfect location to place the rock abrasion tool on the rock collection dubbed "El Capitan" near Opportunity's landing site. "El Capitan" is located within a larger outcrop nicknamed "Opportunity Ledge." Read More
2/19/04		Opportunity Examines Trench As Spirit Prepares To Dig One: By inspecting the sides and floor of a hole it dug on Mars, NASA's Opportunity rover is finding some things it did not see beforehand, including round pebbles that are shiny and soil so fine-grained that the rover's microscope can't make out individual particles. Read More
2/13/04		Flaky "Mimi": This color image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera on Sol 40 is centered on an unusually flaky rock called Mimi. Mimi is only one of many features in the area known as "Stone Council," but looks very different from any rock that scientists have seen at the Gusev crater site so far. Read More
2/9/04		Mars Rock Formation Poses Mystery: This sharp, close-up image taken by the microscopic imager on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's instrument deployment device, or "arm," shows a rock target dubbed "Robert E," located on the rock outcrop at Meridiani Planum, Mars. Read More
2/4/04		Thar be Hematite!: This map of a portion of the small crater currently encircling the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows where crystalline hematite resides. Red and orange patches indicate high levels of the iron-bearing mineral, while blue and green denote low levels. Read More The Lure of Hematite ~ NASA Science 3/28/01 Why Hematite? ~ NASA 2/14/04
2/4/04		Mars Under the Microscope: This magnified look at the martian soil near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site, Meridiani Planum, shows coarse grains sprinkled over a fine layer of sand. Read More..
1/28/04		A Geologist's Treasure Trove: This high-resolution image captured by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera highlights the puzzling rock outcropping that scientists are eagerly planning to investigate. Presently, Opportunity is on its lander facing northeast; the outcropping lies to the northwest. Read More Large Panoramic Image
1/20/04		The Mystery Soil: This high-resolution image from the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the region containing the patch of soil scientists examined at Gusev Crater just after Spirit rolled off the Columbia Memorial Station. Scientists examined this patch on the 13th and 15th martian days, or sols, of Spirit's journey. Read More
1/13/04		In the Far East: In the distance stand the east hills, which are closest to the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in comparison to other hill ranges seen on the martian horizon. The top of the east hills are approximately 2 to 3 kilometers (1 to 2 miles) away from the rover's approximate location. This image was taken on Mars by the rover's panoramic camera. Read More Large Panoramic Image
1/12/04		Mars in Full View: This is a medium-resolution version of the first 360-degree panoramic view of the martian surface, taken on Mars by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera. Part of the spacecraft can be seen in the lower corner regions. Read More Large Panoramic Image

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