This
view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows part of
"Marathon Valley," a destination on the western rim of Endeavour Crater,
as seen from an overlook north of the valley.
The scene spans from east, at left, to southeast. It combines four
pointings of the rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) on March 13, 2015,
during the 3,958th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars.
The rover team selected Marathon Valley as a science destination
because observations of this location using the Compact Reconnaissance
Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument on NASA's Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter yielded evidence of clay minerals, a clue to
ancient wet environments. By the time Opportunity explores Marathon
Valley, the rover will have exceeded a total driving distance equivalent
to an Olympic marathon. Opportunity has been exploring the Meridiani
Planum region of Mars since January 2004.
This version of the image is presented in approximate true color by
combining exposures taken through three of the Pancam's color filters at
each of the four camera pointings, using filters centered on
wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green)
and 432 nanometers (violet).
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
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