Photographs of a planet

I cannot emphasize how cool HiRISE stuff is or how amazing the photographs of Mars are; it makes me wonder how it would feel to step onto another planet; to see the sun and the stars in a completely different way; to live without our moon.  I read a lot of fantasy/science fiction and I think that anyone who works with science or technology eventually has to think about these things (which could be why fantasy/science fiction is a stereotypical geek obsession).  Thinking about walking on other planets, or there being life in another galaxy shakes up my world view; I once had a teacher ask me, what would aliens from another planet think of human sports like boxing?  Would they stand, amazed, that humans would stand around and cheer people hitting each other? (He was a boxing fan)  That idea got imprinted in my brain, and now I look at a lot of things that way — like hair.  How would a being without hair see our occupation with hairstyles?  Thinking about stuff like that can go on forever — it’s like going down a rabbit hole (Marti often regrets asking me what I’m thinking; the first time he asked, I said, “I’m thinking that if I could remake the world…” Who says he didn’t know what he was getting when he married me?).

Anyway, I love getting to work around the world of space and astronomy, and I thought I would give the PR guy a lift and post the YouTube video of recent stereo photographs of Mars on this site. It’s a fun video, complete with cheesy “space” music (if only they were playing tracks from Star Wars…oh, copyrights, how difficult you can make life sometimes!).  You might not think seeing the mountains and valleys of Mars up close is quite as exciting as I do — which is why I’ve got this job, and you haven’t, it would seem — but on the other hand, it might give your spine a tingle.  And who doesn’t like a little spine tingle now and again?