Behold Mars 2006 Calendar Available

Hello,

I have just finished creating a calendar for 2006. The calendar is titled Behold Mars and each month features a different image of Mars from either the Viking Orbiter, Mars Global Surveyor, or Mars Exploration Rover missions to Mars.

You can view the calendar at the following link:

Behold Mars 2006 Calendar

This is my first excursion into POD (Print On Demand) and I am very curious to see how it turns out. The site selling the calendar is Lulu (www.lulu.com) and was recommended by a friend.

I have also made a couple of the images used in the calendar available as well.

Jim

Gallery Space on Graphics.com Approved

Mars Work At Graphics.com Photoshop Gallery
Over the weekend I sent an e-mail to graphics.com requesting gallery space in their Photoshop gallery and provided them with examples of my work.

The other day I got an e-mail back from them telling me that my request was accepted and that my space was ready to go. I quickly added a few images to the gallery just to get things rolling.

If you like you can visit my gallery at graphics.com to see what I have on display there.

Jim

Magnetic Mars

Mars just gets more Earth-like every day. It was a big deal when Mars Global Surveyor found evidence that Mars once had a magnetic field. Now it seems that Mars once had plate tectonics. As I recall it was previously held that Mars never had plate tectonics and that Vallis Marineris represented a failed beginning of the same.

For more information, see the article
New map provides more evidence Mars once like Earth.

Jim

NAPP Gallery Editor Picks "Martian Gullied Crater" As An "Editors Choice"

I was surfing the web Saturday October 15 and decided to see what was up at the NAPP Member Portfolio web site. As a member benefit, NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) has created a Member Portfolios web site where members can post a small sampling of their work. I was surprised and pleased to see that my image "Martian Gullied Crater" had been selected as an Editors Choice (see image above).

A slightly larger version of the image can be seen below.



You can view my NAPP portfolio but it is composed only of small images that are a subset of those on display at the Mars Art Gallery.

You should also note that NAPP has been having troubles with its gallery software. Clicking on a thumbnail may or may not bring up the full size image. Given that this is a problem dating back to early 2005, I would not bet on it being fixed anytime soon.

For detailed information about the picture and to access a wallpaper version see Martian Gullied Crater.

Jim

Behold Mars Presented to Friendship Village Men's Club

Friday October 21 I had the opportunity to address a meeting of the Men's Club at Friendship Village. Friendship Village is an assisted living and retirement community in Schaumburg IL.

The title of my presentation was "Behold Mars" and I spoke for almost an hour, followed by a question and answer session. I began the presentation with a little historical background about the observational history of Mars. This was followed by a brief overview of the image processing techniques that I used to create the images that they were going to be seeing. The rest of the talk was showing the audience numerous pictures of Mars that focused on the geological diversity of our red neighbor.

This was I think the fourth time that I had been invited to speak at Friendship Village. As I recall my other presentations covered the subjects of the Hubble Space Telescope, President Bush's New Vision for Space Exploration, and another Mars talk.

I must say that I always enjoy speaking to this group and I look forward to their next invitation to speak.

Jim

Welcome to the Digital Mars Blog

Hello and Welcome,

I decided to create this blog as an experiment for sharing news and views about images of the planet Mars. I began doing my own processing of Mars image data a number of years ago in order to create my own visuals for presentations about space exploration in general and Mars in particular.

Mission data that I have worked with includes:

• Mariner 9
• Viking Orbiters and Landers
• Mars Pathfinder
• Mars Global Surveyor
• Mars Exploration Rovers
• Mars Odyssey

Most of the work that I have done has been focused on the Viking orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor images. I have also done some work creating 3D renderings using Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data.

Several of the images that I have created are on display at my web site The Mars Art Gallery.

So welcome to my blog and I hope that you enjoy your visit.

Jim.