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This breathtaking panorama was taken on Mars

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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has provided us with some spectacular (but also fun) photos so far. After capturing amazing Earth-like clouds, it has again captured a sight that might remind us of our home planet. The rover reached the top of Vera Rubin Ridge and captured photos that were stitched into a breathtaking panoramic landscape.

Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS (cropped)

The panorama shows interior rim of the Gale Crater. Curiosity captured 16 side-by-side photos on 25 October 2017 with the wide-angle camera in its left eye. NASA stitched the images together to create the final panoramic image. They also corrected the white balance. As a result, the colors of the rocks look like they would under daytime conditions on Earth. It’s probably because of this that this landscape reminds us of some areas on Earth. I’ve read some comments saying that it reminds them of Mojave Desert.

NASA has also shared an annotated version of the panorama you can see here. It shows the rover’s approximate path since its landing in 2012. The image marks some of the sights the rover has investigated so far, as well as some geological features visible in the scene.

The cover image is a cropped portion of the entire panorama, and you can see more about it here. If you’d like to explore the entire panoramic image in full size, you can do it on this link.

[via Gizmodo; image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS]

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  • Tj Ó Seamállaigh

    Interesting. But I wonder, upon which reference did they set their White Balance. As to my understanding, the WB is something “rational” for us Earthlings, depending on how we perceive the color (technically, there is no such color called White in the digital realm). If we imagine Mars was already inhabited, and had an intelligent life there and they do have cameras and, well, color perception; Would their definition of White be as ours?

    • Astro

      The rovers have color calibration panels for setting white balance. Do an internet search for something like, “Mars Curiosity color calibration” and you’ll find images.

    • E.P. Grondine

      NASA regularly sets the sky of Mars to look like the Earth’s,
      and the colors of the ground are set to Earth lighting.
      NASA has done this since they first received the images from the Viking landers.
      Mars’ sky and natural light are both a dark redish brown.

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