NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has captured a stunning image of “Marker Band Valley” before leaving it behind. The postcard is an artistic interpretation of the landscape, with color added over two black-and-white panoramas captured by Curiosity’s navigation cameras. The views were taken on April 8 at 9:20 a.m. and 3:40 p.m. local Mars time, providing dramatically different lighting that, when combined, makes details in the scene stand out. The image peers past the rear of the rover, providing a glimpse of its three antennas and nuclear power source. The Radiation Assessment Detector instrument, which appears as a white circle in the lower right of the image, has been helping scientists learn how to protect the first astronauts sent to Mars from radiation on the planet’s surface.
