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.

                              2019 December 20

                           Late Afternoon on Mars
              Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Marco Di Lorenzo

   Explanation: Shadows grow long near sunset in this wide panoramic view
   from the Curiosity rover on Mars. Made with Curiosity's navcam, the
   scene covers about 200 degrees from north through east to south (left
   to right), stitched together from frames taken by the Mars rover on sol
   2616. That's just Earth date December 16. Curiosity is perched on top
   of a plateau on Western Butte. The distant northern rim of Gale crater
   is visible along the left. Near center is Central Butte, already
   visited by Curiosity. On the right, the shadow of the rover seems to
   stretch toward the base of Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp), a future
   destination. The monochrome navcam frames have been colorized to
   approximate the colors of the late martian afternoon.

                  Tomorrow's picture: solstice to solstice
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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