File talk:Flag of Mars.svg

This image is wrong - the middle green bar is pushed up one pixel. +sj + 07:29, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Old monitor? The colors on CRT monitors can slip out of alignment after a few years(?) • Anakin (talk) 08:00, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Recreation

I've been trying to research the standard colours and size of this flag. The flag has no formal specification.

Flagspot lists some sources but its colours are (typically) dreadful.

Although John Mace Grunsfeld apparently took it aboard STS-103 [1] [2], I don't think it was an official part of the mission. It's mentioned nowhere in NASA's STS-103 pages, including the per-day summaries, news releases, or images.

The flag's primary proposer and user is the The Mars Society, who use it very extensively, raised above their command posts or on shoulder patches. Consequently, there are many photos of it. I went through a few sets of archives to find some clear ones:

[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]

Here is a video of the flag being raised above a Mars Society command post: [24] (skip to 3:00).

And here is a very similar looking flag, probably produced by them, at some unofficial venues: [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]

Conclusions:

• The colors are quite dark and slightly desaturated (compare to the flag of Canada in the photos). The green is distinctly turquoise-ish, nothing like the color used currently. The truth is that the colors do not actually look nice as flat tones in an SVG, though keeping them dark in the RGB range, like the photos, reduces the clash. However, using a photo to illustrate this flag will always be superior.
• The ratio varies. On shoulder patches it's 3:2, the one painted on the wall (which also has strange colors) was 3:5, and in the photos of actual flags, there seem to be two distinct ratios. One is 1:2 and the other is 3:5. This is all rather annoying; it would be better if there was one correct ratio. • Anakin (talk) 08:00, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Okay, I've uploaded my recreation to implement the above (made in a text editor for source neatness). Ratio is 3:5, and colors are based on the photos, but I'm open to changes. I have to admit it looks quite dark, even though I brightened it from the photos, though no darker than File:Flag of Mars.gif. It's hard to brighten it without the colours clashing. In any case, it's better than what was there previously (which was a very bright RGB at 11:18). • Anakin (talk) 08:16, 10 November 2009 (UTC)