PIA05652: At Work in the Plains of Meridiani


At Work in the Plains of Meridiani

Caption:

This image taken by the hazard-avoidance camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the rover investigating a bright patch of soil dubbed "Mont Blanc." The rover used its microscopic imager, located on the instrument deployment device, or arm, to take pictures of Mont Blanc on sol 59, two sols after it exited 'Eagle Crater.' Later, Opportunity observed the spot with its Moessbauer and alpha particle X-ray spectrometers, also located on the arm. Though Mont Blanc appears unusually bright amidst the dark plains of Meridiani Planum, scientists believe it is the same red dust that blankets most of the surface of Mars. The soil patch appears to have collected downwind of Eagle Crater. The rover is facing northwest.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
Instrument Host Opportunity (MER-B)
Host Type Rover
Instrument Hazard Camera (Hazcam)
Detector
Extra Keywords Crater, Dust, Grayscale
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2004-03-29
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05652
Identifier PIA05652