Stunning New Panorama Shows the Hazy Distant Hills of Mars

By Nancy Atkinson - October 11, 2012 at 9:03 PM UTC | Planetary Science
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This beautiful new panorama of the Curiosity rover's view in Gale Crater of the distant hazy hills beyond that seem to call out, begging for exploration. "FINALLY, a spaceprobe takes a picture that shows Mars as it has burned in my mind all these years," said

Stuart Atkinson via Twitter

, who created this mosaic from four separate raw color images taken by the rover. The images, just uploaded today to Earth, were taken on Sol 50 (Sept. 26, 2012) by the right MastCam on Curiosity. This provides a glimpse at the depth and distances the rover's cameras can see, with those beckoning hills and the rim of Gale Crater off in the distance. The rover is looking towards the northeast.

Click the image to see the full, large view of the panorama. Almost enough to make you get those hiking boots out from the back of the closet!

Stu not only stitched together this image but also wrote a new poem about

"The Watching Hills."

An excerpt:

If you'd stood here a billion years ago, Perhaps two, waves would have lapped gently Around your feet – maybe higher, Maybe rolled in slow martian motion past your knees,

And looking down you'd have seen stream- Polished stones swimming past your boots, Tumbling over and over and over…

...... all gone now.

Read the entire lovely poem here.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com