| Panoramic
Photo of Mars Taken by the Spirit Rover
modified by Jeff Beaty (AVAS webmaster) - 1/19/04
The "virtual
tour" panorama at the bottom of this page was created from
a public
domain image taken from the official NASA/JPL website for the Mars
Rovers. The original image was a 360° view, stitched
together by JPL from a number of photos taken by the Spirit rover.
I wanted to get a feel for what it would be like to "look around"
if I were standing where Spirit was when it took these pictures.
I could not find any "official website" that presented
the NASA panorama in any of the numerous "virtual tour"
or "panorama" viewers available; so as an experiment I
used some software to create my own.
The original NASA
image I used to create the panorama below, can be found at:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040112a.html
If I ever find
an "official" website offering the Spirit panoramas in
an interactive panorama view similar to my crude one below, I will
of course add a link to that site here (as well as on the AVAS
Astronomy Websites links page).
NOTE:
The panorama I created below is a very low resolution & low
quality image to make it load quicker. In addition, the original
image as released by NASA was further altered by the panorama creation
& viewer software I selected. I make no claims as to the accuracy
of the perspectives of this panorama. The panorama below is not
intended to be a source of ANY form of serious scientific
data, and I created it simply to explore and share the wonder and
amazement at this unique and rare look at the surface of another
planet.
Panorama Viewer
The image below
may take a moment to load
depending on your internet connection speed.
The Panorama Viewer requires a Java Enabled web browser.
If the image fails to load below, you can still view the 'flat'
panorama by clicking the link at the bottom of this Viewer
box.
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Crosshair Tool: w/ button highlighted, click &
drag in image to move view left, right, up & down.
Zoom Tools: w/ a zoom button highlighted, click in
image to zoom in (
Reset Button: reset view to starting zoom
level and restart automatic rotation.