Astronomy Picture of the Day

Explanation: Get out your red/blue glasses and gaze across the surface of Mars in stereo. You are looking south of west across an ancient flood channel, Ares Vallis, landing site of the Mars Pathfinder. A rover deployment ramp and lander petal define the foreground in this 3D-view while a field of rocks seems to stretch to the horizon. At the upper right, over half a mile distant, are the hills known as the "Twin Peaks". Today is Sol 10, the tenth day the Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover have been operating on the martian surface. Over that period, the mission has been returning a wealth of images and data. The otherwise successful rover activities have been recently hampered by some communication and computer difficulties.