                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2025 June 7

                     Perseverance Selfie with Ingenuity
                    Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS

   Explanation: On the Mars rover's mission Sol 46 or Earth date April 6,
   2021, Perseverance held out a robotic arm to take its first selfie on
   Mars. The WATSON camera at the end of the arm was designed to take
   close-ups of Martian rocks and surface details though, and not a quick
   snap shot of friends and smiling faces. In the end, teamwork and weeks
   of planning on Mars time was required to program a complex series of
   exposures and camera motions to include Perseverance and its
   surroundings. The resulting 62 frames were composed into a detailed
   mosaic, one of the most complicated Mars rover selfies ever taken. In
   this version of the selfie, the rover's Mastcam-Z and SuperCam
   instruments are looking toward WATSON and the end of the rover's
   outstretched arm. About 4 meters (13 feet) from Perseverance is a
   robotic companion, the Mars Ingenuity helicopter. Perseverance has now
   spent over 1,500 sols exploring the surface of the Red Planet. On Earth
   date January 18, 2024, Ingenuity made its 72nd and final flight through
   the thin Martian atmosphere.

                     Tomorrow's picture: Facing NGC 3344
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

