Mars camera reveals new 'full-circle' image

[Mr Olympia]

A new ‘full-circle’ photo of Mars – combining 817 separate images – has been captured by a panoramic camera (Pancam) on board Nasa’s Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity.


^{Picture credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ}

The latest Mars panorama is the ‘next best thing to being there', according to Nasa. The vehicle's camera shot the photos between 21 December 2011 and 8 May 2012, from a northward sloping outcrop. The picture shows the planet's terrain while the vehicle was stationary during the most recent Martian winter. The resulting image shows tracks made by the vehicle, which has been working on Mars since 2004. ‘The panorama combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centred on wavelengths of 753 nanometres (near infrared), 535 nanometres (green) and 432 nanometres (violet),' said a spokesman for the US space agency.

‘The view is presented in false colour to make some differences between materials easier to see.'


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