Eye in the sky! Curiosity spied from orbit

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Eye in the sky! Curiosity spied from orbit
BY KEITH COOPER
ASTRONOMY NOW
Posted: 15 August 2012

curiosity_mro_400x309 A colour-enhanced view of NASA's Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it flew overhead. See full resolution image. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

The Mars Curiosity rover has been spied by the orbiting Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), sitting on layered bedrock within the enormous Gale Crater. The rover is actually the two bright spots, and you can even see its shadow. Fanning out on either side is the blast pattern in the dust scoured by the retro rockets on the sky crane that lowered Curiosity to the surface. Note that the colours are enhanced – the blast pattern would appear more grey in real life. This image was snapped at an angle of 30 degrees – the MRO team hope to take another picture from a different angle in a few days to create a stereo pair.

The image of Curiosity is part of a much larger image of the terrain in Gale Crater (see below). Mount Sharp, six kilometres away lies off the bottom of the frame to the south, with silky smooth dune fields between the mountain and the rover.

context See full resolution image. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.

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