RED AHEAD
THE MOST detailed panorama ever snapped from the surface of Mars has been unveiled by Nasa.
Captured by the agency's Curiosity rover, the image showcases a mysterious region on the side of the Martian ridge Mount Sharp.
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It's thought that the area, dubbed "Glen Torridon", was once covered by lakes and streams billions of years ago.
"This is the largest and highest resolution panorama the Curiosity Rover has ever taken," Nasa's Dr Ashwin Vasavada said.
"It's made up of almost 1,200 individual images taken over four days."
The panorama is so detailed that it's possible to zoom in and pick out details far in the distance.
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In a video tour of the image, Dr Vasavada highlights key Martian features on show, including the three-mile-wide Slangpos crater.
"Something huge must have struck here," Dr Vasavada says.
"Whenever I start to think that Mars looks familiar, sites like this dramatic impact crater remind me that we're looking at a different planet."
Bits of Curiosity can also be seen in the photo, though its machinery is stretched and warped by the 360-degree perspective.
Dr Vasavada describes the £2billion contraption as looking "like an abstract painting".
Key bits of machinery visible in the image include its solar radiation detectors, a sundial and even exposed wires that were severed during the rover's landing on the Red Planet.
Mars facts
Here's what you need to know about the red planet...
- Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
- It is named after the Roman god of war
- The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
- Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
- Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
- It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
- So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful
Curiosity is examining the clay-rich rock of Glen Torridon in a bid to find out more about Mars' ancient waterways.
The £2billion rover has been exploring the surface of Mars since 2012.
Its primary goal is to find out if the Red Planet is, or was, capable of supporting life. Curiosity is also investigating the dusty world's environment.
Curiosity has made many interesting discoveries during its time on Mars.
It detected oxygen that behaves in an unusual way back in 2019 and also found bizarrely high levels of methane on the Red Planet.
Nasa has a long-term goal of sending a manned-mission to Mars in the 2030s.
Nasa announces open recruitment for its 2021 class of astronauts
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In other news, Nasa recently mysteriously lost control of Curiosity on the surface of Mars.
The water that once flowed on Mars contained just the right ingredients to support life, scientists say.
And, a nearby star we’ve watched for 180 years is mysteriously ‘dimming’, leaving scientists baffled.
What do you think of the Mars photo? Let us know in the comments!
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