NASA Opportunity Mars Rover Image: Lion King Surveys Homeland

This image from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity’s panoramic camera shows one octant of a larger panoramic image which has not yet been fully processed. The full panorama, dubbed “Lion King” was obtained on sols 58 and 60 of the mission as the rover was perched at the lip of Eagle Crater, majestically looking down into its former home. It is the largest panorama yet obtained by either rover. The octant, which faces directly into the crater, shows features as small as a few millimeters across in the field near the rover arm, to features a few meters across or larger on the horizon.

The full panoramic image was taken in eight segments using six filters per segment, for a total of 558 images and more than 75 megabytes of data. This enhanced color composite was assembled from the infrared (750 nanometer), green (530 nanometer), and violet (430 nanometer) filters. Additional lower elevation tiers were added relative to other panoramas to ensure that the entire crater was covered in the mosaic.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell