Astronomy Picture of the Day—20181212

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2018 December 12

Soundand Light Captured by Mars InSight

ImageCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Explanation:Your arm on Mars has unusual powers. For one thing it is nearly 2 meters long,has a scoop and grapple built into its hand, and has a camera built into itsforearm. For another, it will soon deploy your ear -- a sensitive seismometerthat will listen for distant rumblings -- onto the surface of Mars. YourSEISmomet-ear is the orange box in the foreground, while the gray dome behindit will be its protective cover. Your arm is attached to the InSight roboticlander that touched down on Mars two weeks ago. Somewhat unexpectedly, your earhas already heard something -- slight vibrations caused by the Martian windflowing over the solar panels. Light from the Sun is being collected by thesolar panels, part of one being visible on the far right. Actually, at thepresent time, you have two arms operating on Mars, but they are separated byabout 600 kilometers. That's because your other active arm is connected to theCuriosity rover exploring a distant crater. Taken a week ago, rusty soil androcks are visible in the featured image beyond Insight, as well as the orangesky of Mars.