Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2007 September 4
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.

A Path Into Victoria Crater on Mars
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA; Acknowledgement: Eduardo Tesheiner

Explanation: What's inside Victoria Crater? Now that the dust has settled from the regional Martian dust storms that immobilized the rolling Martian rovers, the task ahead has become clear. Opportunity arrived at Victoria Crater last month and was poised to enter when the dust storms flared up unexpectedly. The above image was taken last week by the Opportunity rover perched at a possibly traversable slope into the 750-meter impact feature. Victoria Crater is the largest crater that either Martian rover has come across during their explorations. The crater walls might hold clues about the Martian surface before the tremendous impact that created Victoria Crater.

Tomorrow's picture: open space


< | Archive | Index | Search | Calendar | Glossary | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.