A hilarious trend is happening on social media with #UnscienceASpaceThing. People are taking scientific images and applying their own descriptions. I particularly enjoy descriptions like “Grander Canyon” for Valles Marineris; it really conjures an image of what they are referring to. Via C-Net:
Planetary scientist Tanya Harrison brings us Martian Geography 101 with a labeled image of Mars pointing out its explodey things, grander canyon and accidental polar boop. There’s also an arrow pointing to NASA’s still-silent Opportunity rover, which she describes as “sleeping(?) fren.”
NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover is a complex machine equipped with an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and an instrument called “dynamic albedo of neutrons.” Or perhaps you’d prefer some simpler explanations of Curiosity’s anatomy as relayed by NASA’s Doug Ellison. The rover has an Instagrammer, dirt rollers, a sky torch and a pebble booper.
Let’s try Martian Geography 101. #UnscienceASpaceThing pic.twitter.com/Hn5LLrZ2eH
— Dr. Tanya Harrison (@tanyaofmars) January 31, 2019
Ppl need an @OSIRISREx explainer #UnscienceASpaceThing @Alex_Parker pic.twitter.com/DdI7qu6mCt
— Mark Lewis (@SpaceSpox) January 31, 2019
Reminds me of Randal Munroe’s “Thing Explainer” book he published a few years ago. https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/ Fun book and a good introduction to some complex topics.