This latest photograph from Mars Curiosity really does set the benchmark. Gigapan have done one of their incredible photo merges to form this huge single image that lets you pan around and zoom in almost to the point of seeing individual dirt grains.
The screen grab on this page is only a fraction of the shot. You have to click through to GigaPan, go full screen, then immerse yourself! Look down to the left too, where you can see the red dirt scuffed off the surface, leaving a grey patch near a white gypsum vein. That's where Curiosity performed its first drill test just today.
The only thing you can't see in this image is the robotic arm itself, because that's where the camera is mounted. In mosaicing the photos, they have to choose one frame with the arm right out of the way down low, or else there'd be bits of arm scattered across the shot. Of course there'll be some crazies out there who can't wrap their heads around this, and will be claiming the photo was taken by a person, meaning that it's all staged somewhere here on Earth. Let them have there delusions...but it's just like taking a 360-degree panorama shot with your smartphone with neither your phone or your feet showing. If you have an iThing, try it for yourself with the free app 360 Pano.
This is the official JPL animation showing how the photos were compiled:
Here JPL explains how this was just a "mini drill" test run.
Our friendly neighbourhood Mars rover is now seriously ready to start doing a science!
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