Mars in 3D

[P3D Michael Burke <mlburke@xxxxxxxxxx>]

        I've been following the recent threads on 3D movies and thought
some may find  this interesting.  I was at  a "meteor shower weekend"  at a
hotel in the Catskill mountains last weekend.  There were discussions on
various astronomy related topics.
They showed "Mars in 3D".  It is a educational movie, in anaglyph format
made for undergraduate level  students of astronomy.   It was made from
data beamed from the Viking spacecraft in 1976.  There were several
(hyperstereo) sequences  obtained while in orbit as the camera flew over
high mountains and deep gorges.   It illustrated how nasa used the anaglyph
images to select a landing site for the voyager spacecraft in 1976.
        There were also several stereo scenes of the landscape taken from
the lander portion of Viking as it sat on the surface of Mars.  A segment
of the movie which had been filmed on earth showed the lander functioning.
The high point was when the probe's shovel came out over the audience.  The
stereo effect was as good as I have seen with anaglyph.  The titles and
credits were also well done.
It was informative and enjoyable.

mike burke
mlburke@xxxxxxxxxx



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