Selfie on Mars? Here's how NASA caught a new glimpse of the Martian surface
A Martian selfie is giving Earthbound astronomers a look at environmental details on the red planet's surface.
But the selfie was not taken by an extraterrestrial. Rather, it was a manmade explorer.
On May 10, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover used its 1,500th sol, or Martian day, to take a selfie from the edge of the Jezero Crater called 'Witch Hazel Hill,' according to NASA on Wednesday.
The selfie came together using a compilation of 59 individual pictures showing the whole rover and the Martian surface, NASA stated.
'To get that selfie look, each WATSON [Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering] image has to have its own unique field of view,' Megan Wu, a Perseverance imaging scientist from Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, said in NASA's statement. 'That means we had to make 62 precision movements of the robotic arm. The whole process takes about an hour, but it's worth it.'
Unique to the complete image is a swirling natural phenomenon seen on Earth. To the left of the center of the image is a dust devil, 'located 3 miles to the north in Neretva Vallis,' Justin Maki, Perseverance imaging lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in NASA's statement.
'Having the dust devil in the background makes it a classic,' Wu said. 'This is a great shot.'
Located on a gray spot just below the rover is the 'Bell Island' borehole, in which the rover collected a sample of Mars' soil, astronomers said.
The selfie also gives NASA a chance to see what the Perseverance rover looks like over four years since it landed on the red planet. Though covered in dust, an American flag can still be seen on the rover's chassis. At the time the selfie was taken, Perseverance analyzed 37 rocks and boulders, collected 26 rock cores and has used its six wheels to drive more than 22 miles since it landed.
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