Astronomy Picture of the Day - powered by LUNEXIT.IT

Today's APOD is a Right Front Haz-Cam Non-linearized Full Frame EDR acquired on Sol 697 of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit's Mission to Gusev Crater, at approximately 12:48:51 Mars Local Solar Time (Early Afternoon). This frame was obtained when the NASA - Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit had already reached the Summit of an Hill known as Husband Hill.

Husband Hill is actually one of the Columbia Hills, such as a group of small (and relatively flat-topped) Hills located on the Floor of Gusev Crater, which are close to the Landing Site of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit. Husband Hill was so named in honor of Rick D. Husband, the Commander of the Space Shuttle Columbia which, as you certainly remember, disintegrated (on February 1st of the AD 2003) during the Re-Entry Phase.

In the AD 2005, the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit, as part of the exploration of the surroundings of its Landing Site, slowly climbed up to the top of Husband Hill. The Rover reached the Summit on August 22, 2005, and then it began its descent on September 25, of the same year, after spending nearly 2 (two) months examining the Outcrops of the Summit Plateau before moving on. Two named areas which lie on and near, respectively, the Husband Hill, are the "Cumberland Ridge" (such as a place, located on the Hill, where Rocks possessing a "higher than normal" Phosphorus content were found), and the "El Dorado Dunefield" (a so-called "Dark Albedo Feature"), which is located on the Southern Side of the Hill itself.

Husband Hill rises about 351 feet (such as approx. 107 meters) above the Surrounding Plains located on the Floor of Gusev Crater.

This frame has been additionally processed and colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a normal human eye would actually perceive if someone were on the Surface of Mars, near the NASA - Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit, and then looked towards the Horizon and Sky), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.