Curiosity's Panorama

Gale Crater, Mars (credit: JPL, NASA)

NASA's Curiosity rover has produced a stunning panorama from its position inside Gale Crater on Mars. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory produced a video of the rover's vantage point that looks as if you were standing at the edge of a highway overlook in Arizona. According to JPL, the rover is inside the crater where the mountains across the crater's floor rise to over a mile high.

The Martian crater was once held a long-lived lake fed by rivers. It eventually dried under the thin atmosphere and low pressure. When this scene was photographed, the air on Mars was so clear a hill outside the crater is easily seen 50 miles distant. Curiosity was navigating the slopes of Mount Sharp, the crater's central mountain, when the image was captured. The video has been color balanced so rocks appear in the same colors as they would here on Earth. WHB

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