neverbeforeseen – SamaGamer

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.

The Rover Curiosity has just published a sublime image of Mars. This panorama is enough to make us want to visit the Red Planet as soon as possible.

The conquest of Mars is on the program. But it’s neither tomorrow nor the day after that the average person will be able to set foot on the Red Planet. While waiting for the first astronauts to settle, orbiters scan its surface while Rovers criss-cross some of its craters, searching for ancient traces of extraterrestrial life. Among these Rovers, there is in particular Curiosity, which regularly shares images of Martian landscapes with us. And his latest shot takes us on a journey.

The Rover Curiosity, this genius photographer

Curiosity is a real twitto. This robot, which has a selfie taken on Mars as a profile pic, regularly taunts us with its photos, which it posts frequently on Elon Musk’s social network.

Of course, this gives the most whimsical Internet users the opportunity to overinterpret any of his shots. We remember, for example, the story of the “alien door”, which set the Web on fire, or that of the “book” found on the Red Planet.

But today, it’s not about alien civilizations or literature. The Curiosity photo is just…pretty.

A panorama taken at two different times

The photo taken by Curiosity is a panorama, which has a small peculiarity: it is in fact a montage of two photos dated April 8, one taken in the morning at 9:20 a.m., the other in the afternoon at 3:40. The blue side represents morning, while the yellow side represents afternoon.

But why take such a shot? Mainly for aesthetic reasons, as NASA engineer Doug Ellison points out:

“Anyone who has ever been to a national park knows that the scenery is not the same in the morning as it is in the afternoon. (…) Shooting at two times of the day produces dark shadows because the lighting comes from the left and the right, like on a stage – but instead of stage lights, we rely on SamaGame.”