Opportunity turns two - in Mars years
Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 08:25 UTC
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity marks its second Martian anniversary with a new image from Victoria Crater. On Earth, the rover is almost four years old, because one Martian year equals 687 Earth days.
A promontory nicknamed "Cape Verde" can be seen jutting out from the walls of Victoria Crater in this approximate true-color picture taken by the panoramic camera.
The rover took this picture on martian day, or sol, 1329 (Oct. 20, 2007), more than a month after it began descending down the crater walls – and just 9 sols shy of its second Martian birthday on sol 1338 (Oct. 29, 2007). Opportunity landed on the Red Planet on Jan. 25, 2004. That's nearly four years ago on Earth, but only two on Mars because Mars takes longer to travel around the sun than Earth. One Martian year equals 687 Earth days.
The overall soft quality of the image, and the "haze" seen in the lower right portion, are the result of scattered light from dust on the front sapphire window of the rover's camera.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
High resolution image
This view was taken using three panoramic-camera filters, admitting light with wavelengths centered at 750 nanometers (near infrared), 530 nanometers (green) and 430 nanometers (violet).
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
High resolution image
This false-color view was taken using three panoramic-camera filters, admitting light with wavelengths centered at 750 nanometers (near infrared), 530 nanometers (green) and 430 nanometers (violet).
| Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory | |
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