Reeds Bay

         The Opportunity rover acquired this mosaic of the wide open plains of Meridiani Planum on Sols 1935 (July 3, 2009) and 1938 (July 7, 2009), during its drive toward Endeavour Crater.   This mosaic was taken in two parts, with the four frames on the outer edges (the ones slightly lower than the center frames) taken at the later date.  Aside from being a beautiful view of the plains, the mosaic provided a view of future drive possibilities as well as a view for an extensive cobble search. Dust accumulation on the camera's sapphire window can be seen in the mosaic seams, where the less-dusty left side meets the more-dusty right side of each image. This large mosaic's field of view is roughly 150 degrees across and 30 degrees high.
         This mosaic was created using Pancam's 753-nm, 535-nm, and 432-nm filters. Two versions are offered here at full resolution: an approximate true color rendering, and a false color stretch to bring out subtle color differences in the scene.

Jim Bell
Pancam Instrument Lead
February 5, 2010