Hi gang, back from our travels, and ready to update the blog. It looks like Oppy hasn’t actually moved while we’ve been away…at all… so it’s just a matter of catching-up with the images she’s been taking and sending back. One of those images – well, actually, a panorama made from lots of those images, stitched together – is, I think, quite breathtaking, but we’ll come to that later. First, let’s take a look at what else Oppy has been seeing…
The big, ugly, knobbly rock on the left is called “Bicotasing” (have to Google that, I think!) and the one top right is “Halliday”. They’re typical of the messed-up, smacked-about-and-glued-back-together-again rocks Oppy has seen since driving up onto Cape York. Here’s a close-up/sharpened/enhanced/messed about with view of Bicotasing…
The obligatory 3D view…
Now… that view I was teling you about…
Oppy has been very busy staring at the horizon, drinking in the view like any good tourist does when they reach a great spot. She’s taken lots of images of the horizon, panning across it, taking one picture after another, in order to build-up a single, wide-angle panorama of the great crater Endeavour. In time they’ll be stitched together by JPL’s own image wizards to create a single, seamless, beautiful portrait of Oppy’s new – and almost certainly final – home. That will be a gorgeous picture.
Of course, you know me, I can’t wait that long, so I’ve – crudely, I’ll admit – made my own version. 🙂 Here, then, is a portrait of Endeavour Crater… click on it to enlarge it, as usual…
That’s something rather special, isn’t it? Do yourself a favour and set aside a few minutes to just wander around that panorama, panning from one side to the other, walking from rock. Loook across the crater to the mountains on the far side… see the craters pitting them… see their steep slopes and walls… Look at the exquisite, wind-sculpted detail on the crater floor, all those dunes, and banks…
Can’t wait to see what the official portrait looks like, but until then I hope you enjoy this one – which I think is a very fitting way of ending, and celebrating, the 350th post on this blog! Thanks to all readers, old and new! 🙂
The Road To Endeavour 
Viewing from Oppy’s vantage point on the rim, panning across Endeavor’s crater floor is amazing. But when I got to the section with the facing rim and the two craters along the side of the mountain, I almost gasped. This is truly a wonderfully alien terrain.
Congratulations on your 350th post and thanks so much for doing such a wonderful job. Don’t even think of stopping… you’ve got MSL to do yet!
truely splendid view of Endeavour Crater…great job with that photo Stu..thanks 🙂