The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA have released a composite photo from the Mars rover Curiosity - a 1.3-billion-pixel image of the planet's surface. The rover is investigating Gale Crater's environmental past in order to determine the potential that it once hosted microbial life.
The extremely high resolution of the shot allows you to zoom great distances while maintaining clarity. The panorama was shot intermittently over a six-week period in late 2012 and compiled from over 900 exposures and three cameras. NASA provides us with seventeen notable snapshots hidden within the panorama, from distant craters to JPL in Morse code on the Red Planet's surface (from an imprint in the rover's wheel).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
See other versions of the panorama here, and follow Curiosity here or on Twitter here.
