PIA04181: Top of the World
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
 Spacecraft:  Spirit
 Instrument:  Panoramic Camera
 Product Size:  3595 x 983 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Cornell University 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA04181.tif (3.538 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA04181.jpg (327.8 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This panorama is one of the first that NASA's Spirit rover snapped upon reaching the summit of "Husband Hill," located in "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater, Mars. It reveals the vast landscape to the east previously hidden behind the Columbia Hills. The rim of "Thira Crater" frames the distant horizon some 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) away. The summit area is divided by a shallow saddle that slopes north (left) into an area called "Tennessee Valley." Large amounts of sandy material have been blown up the valley and across the saddle in the left-to-right direction, creating the rippled piles of sand seen in this image.

The science team will examine bedrock and other materials in the summit area to determine their composition and the orientation of the rock layers. These and other observations will provide clues to how the rocks formed and how the hills were sculpted in the geologic past.

This mosaic was taken by Spirit's panoramic camera, using the blue filter of its right eye.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Image Addition Date:
2005-09-01