Shakin', TellTale, Shakin'... (GIF-Movie; credits: NASA)

This series of images show Phoenix's TellTale instrument waving in the Martian Wind. Documenting the TellTale's movement helps mission scientists and engineers determine what the wind is like on Mars.

On the day these images were taken, one of the images seemed to be "out-of-phase" with other images, possibly indicating a Dust Devil occurrence. Preliminary analysis of the images taken right before and after the passing of this possible Dust Devil indicates winds from the West at 7 meters-per-second. The image taken during the possible Dust Devil shows 11 meters-per-second wind from the South.

These images were taken by the lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) on the 136th Martian Day, or Sol, of the mission (such as Oct. 12, 2008). Phoenix's TellTale is part of the Canadian Space Agency's meteorological package on the Lander.