NASA Rover Photographs Mars Solar Eclipse

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) – The NASA rover Opportunity turned a camera skyward to photograph Mars’ moon Deimos eclipsing the sun and also carried out the most complex movements yet of its robotic arm, Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Thursday.

The pictures of Deimos, “terror” in Greek mythology, were taken by the rover’s panoramic camera. Deimos is the smaller of Mars’ two moons. The pictures were not immediately released.

Opportunity also has been studying rocks and soil in a small crater since landing on the Red Planet in late January.

Scientists announced this week that Opportunity returned strong evidence that the ground at its landing site was once drenched in water and would have been hospitable to life.

Opportunity had to execute 490 commands to accomplish a complex operation of its instrument-laden robotic arm as it studied a rock dubbed “Last Chance,” JPL said.

The rover created three mosaics with its microscopic camera, recording 128 images with more than 200 arm movements.

On the other side of Mars, Opportunity’s twin, Spirit, spent four hours grinding a 0.08 inch depression into the rock, brushed the hole clean and began examining it with instruments.

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov