These are the first coloring images of NASA ’s Curiosity roamer and its immediate surroundings on the Red Planet , released just hours ago . The photographs were of late acquired by HiRISE , the most powerful tv camera we ’ve ever sent to another major planet , and holy crap are they stunning .
Jaw - dropping , colour - enhanced views await you below the fold . commit us — this is something you need to see .
The photo featured up top is wonderful in its own right , offering us an unprecedented vista of Curiosity and its landing land site . harmonise to HiRISE rationale investigator Alfred McEwen , hues have been raise to show elusive variations in colouring material in the rover ’s locality , which he say result from dissimilar types of materials . “ The descent phase blast pattern around the rover , ” for example , “ is clearly seen as relatively blue colors ( true colour would be more hoary ) . ”
But the rover itself is only part of what makes this in vogue batch of simulacrum so striking . Equally telling is the view these photos afford us of Curiosity ’s environs , include the unexplored terrain that rest south of Curiosity ’s landing place situation , closer to Mount Sharp . And that ’s where this icon comes in . Dear readers , do yourself a Brobdingnagian favour and press the picture to enlarge it , or best yet , get across here to download a hi - res version for yourself ; you ’ll be beaming you did .
This incredibly vibrant ( and unbelievably marvellous ) view of the planet open “ shows the terrain around the rover ’s landing website within Gale Crater on Mars , ” explain McEwen . He continues :
colouration were enhance to bring out subtle remainder , show that the landing place region is not as colorful as regions to the S , nigher to Mount Sharp , where Curiosity will finally explore .
The dark dune field lying between the rover and Mount Sharp can be seen in the lowly fate of the picture . Mount Sharp is out of view , below the epitome frame . The rover is about 980 feet ( 300 metre ) from the bottom of the picture .
Mount Sharp may be Curiosity ’s ultimate scientific target , but there ’s a lot of geologically interesting feature between it and the rover ’s current emplacement , many of them outcrops that could very well contain the clues that will help NASA scientists infer whether Mars ’ past was a watery ( and , potentially , life story - prolong ) one .
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , science , and culture news program in your inbox day by day .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
