6.18.2 Greatest hits from previous weeks

6.18.2.1 Help find a bright object on Mars!

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=11819

In today's news, scientists found a bright object on one of Curiosity's photos (it's near the bottom of the picture below). It's a bit tricky to find - I actually spent quite some time staring at the ... 
[image-processing]
 

asked by Victor K. https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=1351 198 votes

answered by Niki Estner https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=242 257 votes

6.18.2.2 How to plot an ellipse?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=20100

I'm new to Mathematica, and I'm finding it difficult to plot an ellipse. 
I tried using 
 
 Plot[(x/5)^2 + (y/3)^2 == 1, {x, -5, 5}, {y, -3, 3}] 
 
 
but I'm getting ... 
[plotting]
 

asked by Sriram https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=6075 17 votes

answered by Jens https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=245 29 votes

6.18.2.3 How to make the digits of  go around in a spiral like this?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=109982

Here is a start. 
 
 MapIndexed[Text[Reverse[First[RealDigits[Pi,10,252]]][[Tr@#2]],#]&, 
Table[{t Cos[t],t Sin[t]},{t,0,16Pi,0.2}]]//Graphics 
 
[graphics] [formatting] [generative-art]
 

asked by matrix89 https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=5379 56 votes

answered by Martin Ender https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=2305 71 votes

6.18.2.4 How to calculate contour integrals with Mathematica?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=34073

How to calculate the integral of $\frac{1}{\sqrt{4 z^2 + 4 z + 3}}$ over the unit circle counterclockwise for each branch of the integrand? 
[calculus-and-analysis] [complex]
 

asked by user64494 https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=7152 40 votes

answered by Artes https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=184 63 votes

6.18.2.5 How to make a Spherical Cow?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=125043

Being a theoretical physicist, I always have a great respect for Spherical Cow. So I thought about making one myself. I am not sure how can I create (something considered to be the simplest!) this ... 
[geometry] [image3d]
 

asked by Sumit https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=8070 69 votes

answered by andre314 https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=5467 76 votes

6.18.2.6 How to find integer solutions?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=42359

Following is the equation: 
Need to solve for integer values of x,y when a,b lies between -1000 and 1000. 
Problem is to find the number of integer values of pair (x,y) that satisfy it. 
[equation-solving]
 

asked by Sahil Sareen https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=12396 2 votes

answered by bill s https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=1783 4 votes

6.18.2.7 Plotting a Phase Portrait

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=14160

I'm trying to plot a phase portrait for the differential equation 
$$x'' - (1 - x^2) x' + x = 0.5 \cos(1.1 t)\,.$$ 
The primes are derivatives with respect to $t$. I've reduced this second order ODE to ... 
[plotting] [differential-equations]
 

asked by covertbob https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=4528 38 votes

answered by David Slater https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=1746 32 votes