Wow...



Picture taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express orbiter on 14 January 2004 under the responsibility of the Principal Investigator Prof. Gerhard Neukum. It was processed by the Institute for Planetary Research of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), also involved in the development of the camera, and by the Institute of Geosciences of the Freie Universität Berlin.



It shows a portion of a 1700 km long and 65 km wide swath which was taken in south-north direction across the Grand Canyon of Mars (Valles Marineris) from two perspectives. It is the first image of this size that shows the surface of Mars in high resolution (12 metres per pixel), in colour and in 3D.






Mars: Valles Marineris



ESA - Mars Express - Europe's eye on Mars: first spectacular results from Mars Express



Jenkins Tribute



My favorite player to watch in the NFL playoffs this year is not a QB, not a half-back, not even a hard-hitting safety ("Oh my goodness, Chris, I think Manning's head has actually been separated from his body by Milloy's hit!").



No... instead, I'm enjoying watching Panther's defensive tackle Kris Jenkins crush, kill and destroy every gimmicky blocking scheme that offensive coordinators and line coaches have thrown up against him.



It was awesome watching him against the Rams. There were literally occasions where he was being triple-teamed (guard, tackle and tight-end) and he was pushing all three of them back! What does the opposing coach do when that happens ("maybe we could throw the center and pull a guard at him, too")? Mr. Jenkins is insanely powerful and just doesn't seem to take a down off. Seriously, just watch for #77 in the Super Bowl (he usually lines up around the left offensive guard). Then wait for the pain to begin.



Since Patriots' QB Tom Brady had virtually no pressure applied to him by the Colts D-line, it will be very interesting to see what Bellichek decides to do against a much more dangerous and powerful front.