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Earth From Mars
| title |
Earth From Mars |
| date |
03.08.2004 |
| description |
This is the first image ever taken of Earth from the surface of a planet beyond the Moon. It was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit one hour before sunrise on the 63rd Martian day, or sol, of its mission. The image is a mosaic of images taken by the rover's navigation camera showing a broad view of the sky, and an image taken by the rover's panoramic camera of Earth. The contrast in the panoramic camera image was increased two times to make Earth easier to see.The inset shows a combination of four panoramic camera images zoomed in on Earth. The arrow points to Earth. Earth was too faint to be detected in images taken with the panoramic camera's color filters. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Texas A&M |
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Opportunity's Path
PIA05260
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Opportunity's Path |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This Long Term Planning graphic was created from a mosaic of navigation camera images overlain by a polar coordinate grid with the center point as Opportunity's original landing site. The blue dots represent the rover position at various locations. The red dots represent the center points of the target areas for the instruments on the rover mast (the panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission spectrometer). Opportunity visited Stone Mountain on Feb. 5. Stone Mountain was named after the southernmost point of the Appalachian Mountains outside of Atlanta, Ga. On Earth, Stone Mountain is the last big mountain before the Piedmont flatlands, and on Mars, Stone Mountain is at one end of Opportunity Ledge. El Capitan is a target of interest on Mars named after the second highest peak in Texas in Guadaloupe National Park, which is one of the most visited outcrops in the United States by geologists. It has been a training ground for students and professional geologists to understand what the layering means in relation to the formation of Earth, and scientists will study this prominent point of Opportunity Ledge to understand what the layering means on Mars. The yellow lines show the midpoint where the panoramic camera has swept and will sweep a 120-degree area from the three waypoints on the tour of the outcrop. Imagine a fan-shaped wedge from left to right of the yellow line. The white contour lines are one meter apart, and each drive has been roughly about 2-3 meters in length over the last few sols. The large white blocks are dropouts in the navigation camera data. Opportunity is driving along and taking a photographic panorama of the entire outcrop. Scientists will stitch together these images and use the new mosaic as a "base map" to decide on geology targets of interest for a more detailed study of the outcrop using the instruments on the robotic arm. Once scientists choose their targets of interest, they plan to study the outcrop for roughly five to fifteen sols. This will include El Capitan and probably one to two other areas. Blue Dot Dates Sol 7 / Jan 31 = Egress & first soil data collected by instruments on the arm Sol 9 / Feb 2 = Second Soil Target Sol 12 / Feb 5 = First Rock Target Sol 16 / Feb 9 = Alpha Waypoint Sol 17 / Feb 10 = Bravo Waypoint Sol 19 or 20 / Feb 12 or 13 = Charlie Waypoint |
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Sol 568 Dust Devil in Gusev,
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PIA04157
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Sol 568 Dust Devil in Gusev, Unenhanced |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This movie clip shows several dust devils moving from right to left across a plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater, as seen from the vantage point of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in hills rising from the plain. The clip consists of frames taken by Spirit's navigation camera during the rover's 543rd martian day, or sol (July 13, 2005). Unlike some other movie clips of dust devils seen by Spirit, the images in this clip have not been processed to enhance contrast of the dust devils. The total time elapsed during the taking of these frames was 12 minutes, 17 seconds. Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks. |
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Dust Devils at Gusev, Sol 53
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PIA04154
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Dust Devils at Gusev, Sol 537 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This movie clip shows some distant dust devils and one closer one blowing across the floor of Mars' Gusev Crater. It consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 537th martian day, or sol (July 7, 2005). Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks. In this clip, contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind. The total time elapsed during the taking of these frames was 13 minutes, 46 seconds. |
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Dust Devils at Gusev, Sol 52
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PIA04152
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Dust Devils at Gusev, Sol 525 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This movie clip shows several dust devils moving across the plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater. It consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 525th martian day, or sol (June 25, 2005). Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks. In this clip, contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind. The total time elapsed during the taking of these frames was 12 minutes, 25 seconds. |
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Gusev Dust Devil, sol 532
PIA04153
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Gusev Dust Devil, sol 532 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This movie clip shows a dust devil seen by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 532nd martian day, or sol (July 2, 2005). The dust-carrying whirlwind is moving across a plain inside Gusev Crater and viewed from Spirit's vantage point on hills rising from the plain. The clip consists of frames taken by Spirit's navigation camera, processed to enhance contrast for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame. The total elapsed time during the taking of these frames was 8 minutes, 48 seconds. Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks. |
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Gusev Dust Devil, Sol 543
PIA04155
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Gusev Dust Devil, Sol 543 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
One dust devil scoots across the center of the view in this movie clip showing a few dust devils inside Mars' Gusev Crater. The clip consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 543rd martian day, or sol (July 13, 2005). Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks. In this clip, contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind. The total time elapsed during the taking of these frames was 8 minutes, 21 seconds. |
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Whirlwind Drama During Spiri
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PIA07139
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Whirlwind Drama During Spirit's 496th Sol |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This movie clip shows a dust devil growing in size and blowing across the plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater. The clip consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the morning of the rover's 496th martian day, or sol (May 26, 2005). Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind. |
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Gust and Dust at Gusev, Sol
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PIA07138
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Gust and Dust at Gusev, Sol 495 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This movie clip shows movement of dust by a gust of wind inside Mars' Gusev Crater. It consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the afternoon of the rover's 495th martian day, or sol (May 25, 2005). Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind. |
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Mars Gusts Blow Toward Spiri
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PIA07140
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Mars Gusts Blow Toward Spirit |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This movie clip shows several gusts and whirlwinds carrying dust as they move toward NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. It consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on Spirit during the afternoon of the rover's 501st martian day, or sol (May 31, 2005). The camera was facing into the wind. Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind. |
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You are here: Earth as seen
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PIA05547
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera, Panoramic
…
| Title |
You are here: Earth as seen from Mars |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This is the first image ever taken of Earth from the surface of a planet beyond the Moon. It was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit one hour before sunrise on the 63rd martian day, or sol, of its mission. The image is a mosaic of images taken by the rover's navigation camera showing a broad view of the sky, and an image taken by the rover's panoramic camera of Earth. The contrast in the panoramic camera image was increased two times to make Earth easier to see. The inset shows a combination of four panoramic camera images zoomed in on Earth. The arrow points to Earth. Earth was too faint to be detected in images taken with the panoramic camera's color filters. |
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Twilight at Gusev
PIA07930
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Twilight at Gusev |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Here is the martian twilight sky at Gusev crater, as imaged by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit around 6:20 in the evening of the rover's 464th martian day, or sol (April 23, 2005). Spirit was commanded to stay awake briefly after sending that sol's data to Mars Odyssey at sunset. This small panorama of the western sky was obtained using camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 430-nanometer color filters. This filter combination allows false color images to be generated that are similar to what a human would see, but with the colors exaggerated. In this image, the bluish glow in the sky above where the Sun had just set would be visible to us if we were there, but the redness of the sky farther from the sunset is exaggerated compared to the daytime colors of the martian sky. These kinds of images are beautiful and evocative, but they also have important scientific purposes. Specifically, twilight images are occasionally acquired by the science team to determine how high into the atmosphere the martian dust extends, and to look for dust or ice clouds. Other images have shown that the twilight glow remains visible, but increasingly fainter, for up to two hours before sunrise or after sunset. The long martian twilight compared to Earth's is caused by sunlight scattered around to the night side of the planet by abundant high altitude dust. Similar long twilights or extra-colorful sunrises and sunsets sometimes occur on Earth when tiny dust grains that are erupted from powerful volcanoes scatter light high in the atmosphere. These kinds of twilight images are also more sensitive to faint cloud structures, though none were detected when these images were acquired. Clouds have been rare at Gusev crater during Spirit's 16-month mission so far. |
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Martian Clouds Pass By on a
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PIA09170
Sol (our sun)
Navigation Camera
| Title |
Martian Clouds Pass By on a Winter Afternoon |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured a view of wispy afternoon clouds, not unlike fair weather clouds on Earth, passing overhead on the rover's 956th sol, or Martian day (Oct. 2, 2006). With Opportunity facing northeast, the clouds appear to drift gently toward the west in this movie taken with the rover's navigation camera. The 10 frames, taken 32 seconds apart, show the formation and evolution of what are likely mid-level, convective water clouds. Such clouds are common near Mars' equator at this time of the Martian year. They have been observed by both of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, by satellites orbiting Mars, and by the Hubble Space Telescope. In this case, the clouds appear to develop at a fixed location, in the center of the frame about 25 degrees above the horizon. This style of origin suggests that a thermal plume is rising over a surface feature. In spite of apparent winds aloft, the thermal plume appears to remain stationary for the 5-minute duration of the movie. Though scientists have determined from the images that the wind bearing is east-northeast, approximately 80 degrees, it is not possible on the basis of the movie to unambiguously determine the height and speed of the clouds. Scientists estimate, based on models of atmospheric wind profiles and the apparent displacement of the clouds, that all of the clouds in the movie are at about the same height somewhere between 5 kilometers and 25 kilometers (3 to 20 miles) above the surface. The clouds are estimated to be moving at 2.5 meters per second, if they are low, to 12.5 meters per second, if they are high (8 feet per second to 41 feet per second). Like clouds on Earth, these Martian clouds are probably composed of ice crystals and possibly supercooled water droplets. They are similar in appearance to terrestrial cirrocumulus or high altocumulus clouds. On Earth, such clouds are relatively transient and consist of small, individual cloudlets arranged in rippled patterns. They usually form 6 kilometers to 12 kilometers (4 to 7 miles) above Earth's surface by a process known as convection, during which warm air rises and cools, with clouds condensing from the moist air once it has cooled sufficiently. These Martian clouds appear to be associated with a broader layer of ice-crystal clouds fanning out toward the upper right of the frames at the end of the movie. This is similar to the occurrence of terrestrial cirrocumulus and altocumulus clouds within layers of cirrus or cirrostratus clouds on Earth. Also apparent in this movie are prominent waves in the clouds, a result of the effect of gravity waves on cloud thickness, as on Earth. Though both rovers now have the ability to autonomously detect clouds, these images were taken prior to the first use of the new abilities. The images shown here were stored on Opportunity and were transmitted to Earth on sol 1056 (Jan. 12, 2007) during a routine communications pass. |
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It's a Bird, It's a Plane, I
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PIA05557
Navigation Camera, Panoramic
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| Title |
It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a... Spacecraft? |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Observing the sky with the green filter of it panoramic camera, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit came across a surprise: a streak across the sky. The streak, seen in the middle of this mosaic of images taken by the navigation and panoramic cameras, was probably the brightest object in the sky at the time. Scientists theorize that the mystery line could be either a meteorite or one of seven out-of-commission spacecraft still orbiting Mars. Because the object appeared to move 4 degrees of an arc in 15 seconds it is probably not the Russian probes Mars 2, Mars 3, Mars 5, or Phobos 2, or the American probes Mariner 9 or Viking 1. That leaves Viking 2, which has a polar orbit that would fit with the north-south orientation of the streak. In addition, only Viking 1 and 2 were left in orbits that could produce motion as fast as that seen by Spirit. Said Mark Lemmon, a rover team member from Texas A&M University, Texas, "Is this the first image of a meteor on Mars, or an image of a spacecraft sent from another world during the dawn of our robotic space exploration program? We may never know, but we are still looking for clues". The inset shows only the panoramic image of the streak. |
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