NASA Releases Amazing High Resolution Photo of Mars
NASA has released an incredible panoramic photo from Mars. The image, which can be seen below, is a compilation of 817 photos taken between December 21, 2011 and May 8, 2012. NASA released the photo in a press release on their website. Here is an excerpt:
This scene recorded from the mast-mounted color camera includes the rover's own solar arrays and deck in the foreground, providing a sense of sitting on top of the rover and taking in the view. Its release this week coincides with two milestones: Opportunity completing its 3,000th Martian day on July 2, and NASA continuing past 15 years of robotic presence at Mars. Mars Pathfinder landed July 4, 1997. NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter reached the planet while Pathfinder was still active, and Global Surveyor overlapped the active missions of the Mars Odyssey orbiter and Opportunity, both still in service.
NASA also provided a detailed description of the image, including an explanation of the objects and terrain pictured:
North is at the center of the image. South is at both ends. On the far left at the horizon is "Rich Morris Hill." That outcrop on Cape York was informally named in memory of John R. "Rich" Morris (1973-2011), an aerospace engineer and musician who was a Mars rover team member and mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena.
Read the rest of the description here.
Click for the full resolution image.
