Over the weekend, I saw a post on Life, Unbounded, a science blog I follow. It featured these two images taken by the Curiosity rover:
Source - NASA JPL
Source - NASA JPL
The first image is a self-portrait taken with the camera on its arm, featured in the second picture. When I first saw these pictures, I thought, "It's so weird." The self-portrait is very similar to what some of us would do while we're visiting different places - it's typical tourist behavior. Suddenly, Curiosity's presence on Mars seemed concrete to me, and I felt another wave of awe. As I go to classes and work through my daily routines, Curiosity is busy exploring another planet.
If you are interested, here are some ways to follow the rover:
twitter / facebook / official site
Speaking of social media, exoplanets.org has been getting more involved starting this summer. Ultimately, we are a website, and we want people to get the most out of it. Follow our twitter (@ExoplanetsOrg) to get updates on when we add planets or make changes to the database. You should also "like" us on facebook, although that is still under development.
Updating facebook and tweeting? I get to do that for research from time to time. I guess you can't predict what you will end up doing in research, but that's what makes it exciting.
