Curiosity Rover Looks Like a Tiny Blue Dot From Orbit

Earth isn't the only pale blue dot out there in our solar systemNASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which circles the Red Planet, snapped a photo of Curiosity rover just before it embarked on a 5-mile journey to Mount Sharp.

Curiosity rover is the bluish dot in the lower right corner of the photo, which has been enhanced to show colors as they would appear to the human eye. You can also see the zig-zag path Curiosity has traveled since landing on Mars in August 2012. For scale, the two parallel lines of the wheel tracks are about 10 feet apart.

The two brighter blue spots on the left side of the image mark Curiosity's landing site. The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's landing jets cleared away reddish surface dust in that area, creating the darker patches you see around the two dots.