This image of a Martian rock illuminated by white-light LEDs is part of the first set of nighttime images taken by Curiosity.
The images were taken on Jan. 22, after dark on the 165th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars. This rock target in the “Yellowknife Bay” area of Mars’ Gale Crater is called “Sayunei.”
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS (via NASA - MAHLI’s First Night Imaging of Martian Rock, White Lighting)
Oh, hey, Curiosity rover. What’s new in your neck of the woods?
“Red creme currently unavailable.”
Ooh, that Curiosity rover. It takes hipster pics AND has a sense of humor. Space = conquered?
This is one of the first images taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars early this morning. It was taken through a “fisheye” wide-angle lens on the left “eye” of a stereo pair of Hazard-Avoidance cameras on the left-rear side of the rover. The image is one-half of full resolution. The clear dust cover that protected the camera during landing has been sprung open. Part of the spring that released the dust cover can be seen at the bottom right, near the rover’s wheel.
On the top left, part of the rover’s power supply is visible.
As planned, the rover’s early engineering images are lower resolution. Larger color images from other cameras are expected later in the week when the rover’s mast, carrying high-resolution cameras, is deployed.—Description from NASA. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
