NASA released an image captured by the Curiosity rover last April on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at two different times of the day. The space agency combined the two images by adding colors to offer a striking panorama.
This image is an artistic and recolorized interpretation of two black and white images taken by the Curiosity rover at two times during the same Martian day. | NASA/JPL-CALTECH/VIA REUTERS
It is a postcard landscape of the planet Mars which has just been unveiled by NASA on Tuesday June 13, 2023 on its website. The American agency was able to design it thanks to the Curiosity rover which captured two panoramic shots of the Martian surface, at two different times of the day, reports CNN .
Two episodes on the same shot
On April 8, 2023, the rover was in the foothills of Mount Sharp, which rises 5 km high in Gale Crater. It faced the Marker Band Valley. He then used his black-and-white navigation cameras to take a snap at 9:20 a.m. and another at 3:40 p.m. local Mars time. Two very different episodes in a Martian day that a NASA team colorized in post-processing. The blue sky is similar to the morning and the dominant orange-yellow to the afternoon.
“Anyone who has been to a National Park knows that the scene is different in the morning and in the afternoon”said Curiosity engineer Doug Ellison, who planned and processed the images. “Capturing two times of day provides dark shadows because the lighting comes from the left and right, like you might have on a stage. But instead of stage lights, we rely on SamaGame”.
The discovery of an ancient lake
NASA had already published a color postcard of black and white photos of the Martian vehicle in November 2021. Again, blue and orange-yellow filters had been used. Note that the shadows are more pronounced in this image, as the panoramas were taken in winter at Gale Crater, when the airborne dust is closer to the surface. “Mars shadows become sharper and deeper when there is little dust and softer when there is a lot of dust”explains Doug Ellison.
The rover was facing Marker Band Valley, a winding area in which the craft made a few discoveries, such as “the unexpected signs of an ancient lake”, comments NASA. In the image, we also see the two hills that are “Bolivar” and “Deepdale” and that the rover has already traveled.
