YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Curiosity Rover Snaps 1st Photos of Mars at Night

    NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has captured its first nighttime view of the Red Planet using a camera and ultraviolet light on its robotic arm.

    Curiosity snapped the Mars night photos in visible and ultraviolet light on Wednesday (Jan. 22) to take an up-close look at a rock called "Sayunei," which the rover had scuffed with a wheel to scratch off surface dust, NASA announced Thursday. One goal was to seek out any fluorescent minerals, they added.

    The rover took the photos with the help of small light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that serve as lights for the Mars Hand Lens Imager — or MAHLI — a microscope-like camera at the end of Curiosity's robot arm. The camera has an adjustable focus and several LED light sources for its Martian photography.

    "The purpose of acquiring observations under ultraviolet illumination was to look for fluorescent minerals," MAHLI principal investigator Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, Calif., said in a statement Thursday. "These data just arrived this morning. The science team is still assessing the observations. If something looked green, yellow, orange or red under the ultraviolet illumination, that'd be a more clear-cut indicator of fluorescence."

    The MAHLI camera is one of 10 science instruments on Curiosity, which is a car-size rover capable of examining the surface of Mars in unprecedented detail.

    This image of a Martian rock illuminated by white-light LEDs (light emitting diodes) is part of the first set of nighttime images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the robotic arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. MAHLI took the images on Jan. 22, 2012 (PST).
    CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

    Curiosity is currently exploring a shallow depression on Mars that mission scientists have named Yellowknife Bay. The nighttime photo target Sayunei is near the site of where the rover is expected to use its drill for the first time on Mars.

    The $2.5 billion Mars rover Curiosity landed inside the vast Gale Crater on Aug. 5 to begin a two-year primary mission aimed at determining if the region could have ever supported microbial life. After leaving Yellowknife Bay, the rover will continue on toward a destination called Glenelg, which is located near the base of a 3-mile (5 kilometers) mountain rising up from the center of Gale Crater. 

    You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalikFollow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

    Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
    Loading...
    • Cycling-Road-Giro d'Italia points classification after stage 18

      May 23 (Infostrada Sports) - Points Classification Giro d'Italia after Stage 18 on Thursday 1. Mark Cavendish (Britain / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) 113 2. Cadel Evans (Australia / BMC Racing) 109 3. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) 103 4. Carlos Betancur (Colombia / AG2R) 94 5. Mauro Santambrogio (Italy / Vini Fantini) 89 6. Giovanni Visconti (Italy / Movistar) 86 7. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Team Sky) 86 8. Elia Viviani (Italy / Cannondale) 72 9. Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania / Garmin) 65 10. Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy / RadioShack) 61

    • No Wonder Republican Criticism of Obama Isn’t Working

      Henny Youngman, the late borscht belt comedian, told hundreds of politically incorrect jokes. One of them was his response when asked, “How’s your wife?” “Compared to what?” he’d say.

    • Rare Superman comic found in house insulation

      It's considered the Holy Grail of comic books: Action Comics No. 1 from 1938, featuring the debut of Superman. And David Gonzales found one mixed in with old newspapers insulating a wall in a house he ...

    • Trayvon Martin texts, photos: Might they change Zimmerman trial?

      Ultimately, many of the photos and cellphone records of Trayvon Martin released online Thursday by George Zimmerman’s defense attorneys – indicating that the slain teenager smoked marijuana, got into fights at school, and had an interest in, and perhaps access to, guns – may be ruled inadmissible in court. But they are already making the rounds in the court of public opinion, which can influence everything from fundraising efforts to the mind-set of potential jurors in Mr. Zimmerman's murder trial.

    • Magnitude 5.7 quake strikes Northern California

      (Reuters) - A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Northern California on Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter of the quake was 6 miles northwest of the town of Greenville, and near the smaller community of Canyondam, the USGS said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Allen Shephard, a hunting and fishing guide at Quail Lodge at Lake Almanor in Canyondam, said the quake knocked him "right off the couch and onto the floor." The floor of the lodge was littered with broken dishware, and cabinets were in disarray, said Shephard, 62. ...

    • California reveals prices for health insurance under Obamacare

      By Sharon Bernstein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California unveiled prices on Thursday that consumers will pay for a selection of health plans offered through the state under the Affordable Care Act, providing a glimpse into how health care reform may look as it is rolled out across the nation. Under the federal health care reform law, Californians who do not get or cannot afford health insurance through their jobs can buy coverage through an exchange, at a group rate negotiated by state regulators. ...

    • Woman accused of contaminating daughter's IV tubes

      TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A prosecutor says a woman on trial in Tucson contaminated her hospitalized infant daughter's intravenous lines in an attempt to get attention from the girl's father.

    • 4 Foods That Aren't as Healthy as You Think

      Yes, even the good stuff can pack on pounds.

    Loading...

    Follow Yahoo! News