Latest Mars Panorama Shows Gigantic Mount Sharp

The towering Mount Sharp is the star of the latest photo from NASA's Curiosity rover

Rising more than three miles above the Gale Crater's floor, Mount Sharp stands taller than any mountain in the 48 contiguous states of the United States. This mosaic image is a composite of dozens of photos Curiosity took with her Mastcam instrument on Sept. 20, 2012.

In the first image, the sky looks blue because NASA scientists adjusted the white balance and color to show the terrain as it would look under Earth's lighting. In reality, the Martian sky would be a butterscotch color to the human eye, which you can see in the second image. Scientists make this color correction because it helps to identify different types of landscape and textures on the Red Planet