Opportunity is very close to Solander Point, so let's start the new thread. Here's a view just to get things rolling. There will no doubt be more and better images soon.

I am moved to MEME this

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Turning that approach view on its head:

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Phil

And this is the location I get from that view.

Phil

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http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...E2P2415L7M2.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P2418R2M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...TLP2417L2M3.JPG

I have a sudden itch to put on my sturdy hiking boots!


It's amazing how abrupt the contact between the blocky material of the hillside and the sulphate-sandstone plains is. Hardly any hillside rocks have been scattered out onto the plains. How many billions of years has this scene been sitting undisturbed, waiting for us...? <drifts off into planetary reverie>

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...E2P2415L7M2.JPG

So that's where I left that box of old floppy disks...

Phil

The monthly report by Salley Rayl is available here: Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Celebrates Milestones, Arrives at Solander Suburb

I just started reading it but would like to highlight this paragraph:

3389 position and perspective view of the two frame navcam pan.

Phil

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A quick stitch from the micro camera, Sol 3390:

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Some pictures available from sol 3391, telling that Opportunity backtracked a few meters from the previous site.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...A0P1952L0M1.JPG

And several features were imaged before driving, but they are still on the downlink queue:

03391::p2547::32::4::4::0::0::2::10::pancam_Mula_Mula_L257R2
03391::p2548::32::4::4::0::0::2::10::pancam_Tick_Bush_L257R2
03391::p2549::32::13::13::0::0::2::28::pancam_Red_Poker_L234567Rall

Red Poker is the target she has just been looking at (she backed up a bit before taking the image to get a better view).

Tick Bush is where she drove to, ~4.5m away

A new update! :-)

http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/rover-fiel...-from-mars.html

An earlier view of Solander Point with some sky added for effect

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Long-baseline stereo view of the east side of Solander and across to Tribulation, from sols 3381 and 3385:
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We're starting to get a good view of a prominent ridge on the north face of Tribulation.

This is Phobos partially eclipsing the sun, yes? The eclipse comes out much clearer in reverse where some light is getting refracted in Oppy's lens. From sol 3396:

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It looks to be around the right size according to this recent comparison image from NASA:

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If something else is going on, I'll eat my hat!

Yep, Phobos transit. Like we've seen before with transits, the jpl jpegs are stretched badly so we'll have to wait for PDS to get a better view. I'm not sure why the stretching gives such a different result for transit images than for the regular tau images...

Most Sun images are taken with an automatic "Sun" subframe, that is nice and small. The Sun is a big part, so it stretches OK. The transit images are optimized for speed, which perversely forces a larger frame. The Sun is a small fraction, and the contrast stretch blows it away.

Looks like we've moved right up to the contact now:

http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/im...0P1925R0M1.html

Phil

The boulder that she seems almost uncomfortably close to on Sol 3398 is "Quandong Mulla Mulla" (really curious if anyone can track down the origin of that one). The big boulder on the far left of this view is "Cheese Tree".

Quandong and Mulla Mulla are Australian plants.

Ah, okay, thanks. Via @mikeseibert on Twitter, "Mulla Mulla" is the name of the boulder. "Quandong" must be a second target seen in the same Pancam image (my guess would be the outcrop next to Mulla Mulla).

I spent a fair amount of time working on this long-baseline anaglyph from sols 3381-3385 before I realized I don't have any 3D glasses with me. So... somebody let me know if it works. Normally I wouldn't post an anaglyph without actually testing it, but I'm taking a chance. (I realize the images were taken outside the range of sols for this topic, but the subject is obviously Solander Point.)

Looks OK to me.

Sol 3400 Climbing Solander Point.

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That big rock was pretty close

WOW ! What a view : one of the best shots of the entire mission ! Thanks a lot to Oppy's Nav' Team (and to Astro0, of course)

Sol 3401. Anaglyph of basaltic (?) rock containing vesicles.
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A nice map showing the planned route up the hill for this fall:

http://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/i...94_Srat_sci.jpg

I got it from this recent Planetary Society update.

With the December 12 position about 17m higher than the current position, that should give us a great view of the surroundings.

Wintering at this spot means no great global views of Endeavour and of the surrounding plains until the end of 2014/beginning of 2015...
I thought they were to climb a little higher (white dot on image herewith) to get some spectacular views while spending a long time wintering at the same spot. An opinion focused on Mars outreach of course and to gain more public support for Mars exploration when times are tough to get more funds. Well... That's science !
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This rock from sol 3398 renders nicely in 3D:

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A micro from Sol 3392:

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I don't think that the < 12th Dec (Station 5) is necessarily the spot for the whole winter. With such a large expanse of northern facing slopes I was under the impression that Oppy would inch her way up Solander Point rather than staying in one place. They want to be at that location before 12th December but could easily be up near your dot by the end of winter.

Yeah, that's what I thought. The "rove through winter" concept was mentioned in this TPS update, and may have been mentioned elsewhere.

where did that comparison image come from? The size comparison to the Earth's moon looks quite a bit different from the version on the JPL site (www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/msl/20130815/pia17351-640.jpg):

The one that walfy posted was taken down and replaced later with the version you just posted. See discussion of that here.

A 3D micro from the latest batch, Sol 3403, that was much easier than usual to put together:

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Thanks jamescanvin and CosmicRocker for your explanations. I feel really better... for outreach purposes of course !

Many nice images of late, many rendering wonderfully in 3D. Such desolate, ancient objects! And we can almost touch them. That big rock up close from Sol 3405:

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Just one more for tonight, also from recent Sol 3405:

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sol 3397 an old tyme movie
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Nice shot along the "banks," the planned route before heading up the hill:

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Sol 3407 navcam panorama:
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Return of the partial-color drive direction mosaic on sol 3407. Yay!

The panoramic L0 Navcam view on Sol 3407.

Jan van Driel

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Special request.

The panoramic view taken on Sol 3389 taken with the L0 Navcam.

Jan van Driel

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Sol 3389 the Navcam panoramic view.

Jan van Driel

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and the last one.

Sol 3389. Looking back.

Jan van Driel

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Here's part of a "post-drive" navcam mosaic shot on sol 3410.
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The Navcam L0 panoramic view on Sol 3410.

Jan van Driel

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"Coal Island", Sol 3412. After taking these Pancam images she turned around and advanced slightly toward the target.