The Curiosity rover on Mars snapped its first photo of the Earth and Moon, taken from the surface of the Red Planet.
Our home world and adjoining satellite were photographed in the twilight sky, 80 minutes after local sunset. The picture does not reveal any detail of our planet, but the image is delighting fans of astronomy all over the world. The photograph reveals the way Earth and the Moon will look to future spacefarers on the surface of Mars.
Engineers released the raw image to the public, after removing the effects of cosmic rays. The photo was taken Jan. 31, when the Red Planet was 99 million miles away from the Earth.
Curiosity has 17 cameras available for use. It was launched 26 November, 2011, from Cape Canaveral. The spacecraft arrived at its destination over eight months later.
NASA's Spirit rover took the first picture of Earth from the surface of Mars in 2004. The Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn recently also photographed Earth from the ringed planet. On February 14, 1990, NASA released the first such image, taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. This became known as the "Pale Blue Dot" photograph.
Earthbound observers who want to see Mars this week should look high in the southern sky, just before dawn. The Red Planet will be shining brightly above the blue-tinted star Spica, in the constellation Virgo.
Researchers are currently using Curiosity to determine if Mars may have once supported life, as well as monitor changes to the environment. An area called Yellowknife Bay was found to have once been the location of a lake stream, that could have been habitable for millions of years.
The Curiosity rover is currently engaged in a hazardous maneuver. NASA engineers are running the rover over a sand dune called Dingo Gap. Scientists believe KMS-9, an area which lies over the dune, may have once been habitable to native life. Although the mound is only three feet high, it is the highest obstacle of its type ever crossed on the planet.
The image was distributed to the public through Twitter. The message read: "Look Back in Wonder... My 1st picture of Earth from the surface of Mars."
The official Twitter page for the Curiosity rover has taken an odd turn lately, as tweets are now written in the first person, as if the probe itself were typing. Let's hope we aren't seeing the events of 2001 unfolding 13 years late.
