Curiosity’s new Mount Sharp panorama reveals changing Martian light and signs of ancient water.
Curiosity captures a colour-tinted panorama from high on Mount Sharp on Mars.
Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA's Curiosity rover has delivered a gorgeous new panorama from high on the slopes of Mount Sharp, showing a fresh view of the Martian landscape. The image, taken in November 2025, reveals how sunlight flexes across one Martian day to expose delicate surface features. Curiosity pieced together images of afternoon and morning plates to create a warm-and-cool-coloured scene. What results is a postcard-like view of the terrain that the rover has been patiently ascending while trying to piece together its ancient history.
According to a NASA report, the panorama was created from black-and-white images that were taken over the past two Martian days, or sols, and later colourised to show varying lighting conditions. The rover was on a ridge above an area called the boxwork formation, where mineral-laden patterns persist from groundwater that flowed through cracks in the rock eons ago. The colour makes it easier for scientists to see different surface features and textures, NASA mentioned.
Wind erosion exposed hardened mineral veins in the boxwork region, preserving water clues, while Curiosity's tracks show the ascent of Mount Sharp.
Curiosity has also been drilling rocks in this region, including some from places named Nevado Sajama and Valle de la Luna. The panorama is looking north over the landscape toward the crater floor with the far-away rim on the horizon.
More than 13 years after it landed, Curiosity keeps doing science and observing the views with an eye for autonomy, and multitasking to reveal Mars' transition to cold.
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