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Birthday · August 27, 2012

Curiosity on Mars: Mt. Sharp in View

August 27, 2012

On the day you were born, the universe did what it has always done best: transformed chaos into beauty.

Curiosity on Mars: Mt. Sharp in View

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APOD published August 27, 2012. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

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Curiosity on Mars: Mt. Sharp in View

Original APOD · August 27, 2012

What's that on the horizon? The light peak is Mt. Sharp -- an eventual destination of the Curiosity rover. The above image mosaic was taken from Bradbury Landing, the landing spot of Curiosity, and shows in the foreground the rover's extended robotic arm. Curiosity's is already on the move crossing the intermediate gravel field toward an interesting terrain feature named Glenelg. Curiosity has also already started analyzing its surroundings by zapping a nearby rock with its laser to analyze the chemical composition of the resulting gas plume. If life ever existed on Mars it might well have been here in Gale crater, with the Curiosity rover being humanity's current best chance to find what remains.

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