Starship Asterisk*

Curiosity Self Portrait Panorama

Explanation: This remarkable self-portrait of NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover includes a sweeping panoramic view of its current location in the Yellowknife Bay region of the Red Planet's Gale Crater. The rover's flat, rocky perch, known as "John Klein", served as the site for Curiosity's first rock drilling activity. At the foot of the proud looking rover, a shallow drill test hole and a sample collection hole are 1.6 centimeters in diameter. The impressive mosaic was constructed using frames from the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Mastcam. Used to take in the panoramic landscape frames, the Mastcam is standing high above the rover's deck. But MAHLI, intended for close-up work, is mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. The MAHLI frames used to create Curiosity's self-portrait exclude sections that show the arm itself and so MAHLI and the robotic arm are not seen. Check out this spectacular interactive version of Curiosity's self-portrait panorama.

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Hi guys!

Judging by the lack of comments on today's APOD there's more than one wrong link on the page!

The previous, next (<,>) and Discuss links are all left over from yesterday's APOD. Or do I have a problem with my browser? )

Best wishes, and thanks for the great self portrait of "Curosity".

Abdullah Eyles,
Ankara, Türkiye

Like Abdullah Eyles pointed out, if you click on the "Discuss" link of today's APOD, you are sent to the discussion forum of another APOD instead.

Today's APOD is nice and interesting. I couldn't help thinking to myself, however - wow, fancy that, a misty day on Mars!

Ann

Poor Curiosity!

All that effort to make that wonderful self-portrait and no-one (apart from myself and Abdullah - Hi, Abdullah ) seems to be taking any notice of it!

Margarita

Oh - and Ann, too

Ann wrote: Today's APOD is nice and interesting. I couldn't help thinking to myself, however - wow, fancy that, a misty day on Mars!

Ann

What is the light in the sky? Surely not the Sun??!

And, what causes the mist? I hadn't played attention properly, so hadn't taken that in.

Margarita

Thanks for the notes about the errant links; the editors have been informed.

MargaritaMc wrote:

Ann wrote: Today's APOD is nice and interesting. I couldn't help thinking to myself, however - wow, fancy that, a misty day on Mars!

Ann

What is the light in the sky? Surely not the Sun??!

And, what causes the mist? I hadn't played attention properly, so hadn't taken that in.

Margarita

The winds of Mars sometimes pick up fine sand and dust. Note how the exposed bedrock Curiousity is parked on has a sand-blasted look to it. Also, note the sand dunes at the base of mount Sharp. So it's not mist in the air, it's dust, and yes Margarita, that light in the sky would have to be the sun.

Don't fail to check out the explanation's last link y'all. It's the next best thing to actually being there!

The dunes I mentioned above are hard to see, but they're in or near the dark, lowest terrain which the rover will need to cross on the way to mount Sharp.

Ok already. Now that all systems are go, get going please! Get this rover rovin, yee haw!

Bruce

splendid and very evocative!

Interesting to note how the sun appears smaller in the sky from Mars, as it clearly would, or maybe it's just a trick of the camera.

Didn't we have a self portrait of Curiosity a while back???

orin stepanek wrote:Didn't we have a self portrait of Curiosity a while back???

Yes... but this one's a lot better

Curiousity's acting just like my teenage daughter -- taking pictures of itself and posting them on the web. YES, WE KNOW YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL. NOW GET TO SCHOOL.

aldenrw wrote:Curiousity's acting just like my teenage daughter -- taking pictures of itself and posting them on the web. YES, WE KNOW YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL. NOW GET TO SCHOOL.

I was wondering if the sun is visable in the picture and its as low as it is, why are the shadows pointing towards the sun and so short?

Stuart Coutts wrote:I was wondering if the sun is visable in the picture and its as low as it is, why are the shadows pointing towards the sun and so short?

A panorama like this, mapped to a 2D image, completely destroys most of our intuitive sense of the actual geometry. The Sun may be very high in the sky here, and you'd expect shadows to be pointing in all directions- especially considering that the images that were ultimately stitched together were taken over an extended time period.

Kazak wrote:Interesting to note how the sun appears smaller in the sky from Mars, as it clearly would, or maybe it's just a trick of the camera.

You are right. The Sun does look smaller from Mars.

I agree with Guest, who described this image as splendid and evocative. There is a truly desolate, poignant splendor about it.

Ann

Ann wrote:

Kazak wrote:Interesting to note how the sun appears smaller in the sky from Mars, as it clearly would, or maybe it's just a trick of the camera.

You are right. The Sun does look smaller from Mars.

Of course, being farther away from the Sun will make it look smaller. But we can't see anything in this image that shows this. There are no scale references, and I'm not even certain we're seeing the true disc of the Sun, just the region around the Sun bright enough to saturate the pixels of the camera.

as Mr Peterson wrote

" A panorama like this, mapped to a 2D image, completely destroys most of our intuitive sense of the actual geometry. "

you should get a ride on a vehicle going at the speed of light as shown on a long ago APOD. Hard to get a grip on what is happening to actual geometry

“Curiosity’s first drilling” shows a picture of the drilled material in its holder right out in the sun. I thought the idea of drilling was to get to material possibly protected from solar radiation

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:“Curiosity’s first drilling” shows a picture of the drilled material in its holder right out in the sun. I thought the idea of drilling was to get to material possibly protected from solar radiation

Actually, that is true, since scientists think that solar radiation may kill organic molecules on the surface. But it is the first time that Curiosity has drilled on the surface of Mars, so why not take a picture of the event? Of course, the data may be altered, but Curiosity is likely to drill on Mars again several more times, take samples, and get accurate data (if the data weren't accurate enough).

Playing with the interactive panorama is the closest I've ever come to standing on another planet. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I heard "Also Sprach Zarathusra" rumbling in the distance. The drill holes at Curiosity's feet (er, wheels) are particularly evocative -- humanity's first finely controlled, intentional mark on another planet. With the addition of a straight line and a few curves, Kilroy would be there!

That Kilroy sure gets around, doesn't he