ASTRONOMY PICTURE

OF THE DAY

MARCH 8, 2014

Mount Sharp on the Horizon

EXPLANATION

Get out your red/blue glasses (red for the left eye) and look out over this expansive martian landscape. The panoramic stereo view is composed of images from the roving Curiosity’s Navcam taken at a rest stop during a 100 meter drive on Sol 548 (February 19). The 5.5 kilometer high peak of Mount Sharp, also known as Aeolis Mons, is on the horizon, its base a destination for Curiosity. In the foreground are rows of striated rocks along the Junda outcrop. Centered toward the south-southeast the scene spans 160 degrees. (Another Navcam image here looks back along Curiosity’s route at the end of the Sol’s drive on Mars.)

Image Credit

NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSL, Navcam