Response to speakingmymind, 28 August 2012 9:07AM
Why is the horizon white?
The NASA image sites seem to have collapsed under the strain, but the original page for the image above described how the colours had been balanced to approximately match sunlight on Earth, to help geologists spot rock types, geological patterns and suchlike. Approximately natural colour versions of the same images are also available - they're gloriously atmospheric, but it's quite hard to see through the atmospheric haze and orangey-red cast to the light.
NASA describes the images as such, unfortunately the descriptions tend to go missing when they make it to the general media. Sigh.
The old conspiracy about Viking images showing blue skies and green patches on rocks?
They initially got the white balance completely wrong. As in, completely wrong. I can use a modern digital camera to demonstrate that the sky outside on Earth is a vivid mauve, or that healthy grass is bright red - if I set the white balance sufficiently badly. The human eye is remarkably adaptable to lighting conditions (try taking photos under incandescent light bulbs with a camera's white balance set to 'Daylight', for instance - sickly, yellow images result) - digital cameras, especially primitive efforts like on the Viking landers, require extensive calibration to give naturalistic results.
There's no conspiracy about scientists hiding life on Mars - given that the Viking landers had instruments specifically to detect life, do you really think said researchers would give up the funding opportunity of a lifetime just to pretend the sky is a different colour?
lagrandeflaneuse says :
Morning all.
Kelso Abbey doesn’t look like it’s been the victim of any amateur restorers. 
Response to Eardstapa, 28 August 2012 9:17AM
There's some stuff about MSL's colour Mastcams here - there are two, one with a reasonably wide-angle lens and one with a telephoto (used to take the image above).
In terms of basic specifications, the cameras on MSL appear to be nothing special when compared with consumer-level cameras on Earth, but - they are tough. Tested to operate at temperatures -40degC to +60degC, survive -135degC, withstand intense radiation without sensor degradation, be subjected to high g-forces and violent vibrations at launch and at EDL, cope with years of incredibly fine, choking Martian dust which will get in everywhere - yet still be accurate, scientifically valid instruments.
Also, when the images are stitched together by someone with a more artistic eye, some rather nice results are possible. (Not my site - my attempts at gluing together raw images from MSL were hopeless...)
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ha you see that entity can't read ...
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Response to oommph, 21 August 2012 11:55AM
Inviting a very hard-working 85 year old to a 3 hour event with blasting pop music and ending at 1 am was probably not the smartest idea.She could have sent a look alike…
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