Fisheye from Edge of 'Santa Maria' Crater, Sol 2459 (Right Eye)
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity gained this view during the 2,459th Martian day, or sol of the rover's work on Mars (Dec. 24, 2010) from the edge of a football-field-size crater informally named "Santa Maria."
This view is the right-eye member of a stereo pair from Opportunity's front hazard-avoidance camera.
The rover's upraised robotic arm, itself out of view, casts a dragon-shaped shadow in the foreground.
Opportunity's viewpoint for this scene is the position reached by a drive on Sol 2454. Drives on sols 2452 and 2454 brought Opportunity a few meters counterclockwise around the western side of the crater from the place where the rover first approached the crater on Sol 2451 (Dec. 16, 2010).
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech