PIA05546: Stars in Orion as Seen from Mars
Stars in the upper portion of the constellation Orion the Hunter, including the bright shoulder star Betelgeuse and Orion's three-star belt, appear in this image taken from the surface of Mars by the panoramic camera on NASA's rover Spirit.
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 
 Spacecraft:  Spirit
 Instrument:  Panoramic Camera 
 Product Size:  1024 x 1024 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Cornell University 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05546.tif (71.62 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05546.jpg (17.04 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

Stars in the upper portion of the constellation Orion the Hunter, including the bright shoulder star Betelgeuse and Orion's three-star belt, appear in this image taken from the surface of Mars by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit.

Spirit imaged stars on March 11, 2004, after it awoke during the martian night for a communication session with NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. This image is an eight-second exposure. Longer exposures were also taken. The images tested the capabilities of the rover for night-sky observations. Scientists will use the results to aid planning for possible future astronomical observations from Mars.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Cornell

Image Addition Date:
2004-03-11