The night sky on the night of the Curiosity rover landing on Mars — 5 August 2012
Late on the evening of 5 August 2012, Pacific time, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory received confirmation that the Curiosity rover had landed in Gale Crater on Mars. The car-sized rover was lowered to the surface on cables by a rocket-powered 'sky crane', after the 'seven minutes of terror' of atmospheric entry.
The sky over Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA
This is the real sky above Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA (34.20°N, 118.17°W) on 5 August 2012 at 22:32 PDT (UTC−7) — about when the landing signal reached JPL (2012-08-06 05:32 UTC). The Sun was 28° below the horizon: it was full night. The Moon (waning gibbous, 82% lit) was 9° up in the east. Planets above the horizon: Saturn (7° in the west) and Mars (2° in the west). Brightest named stars up: Arcturus, Vega, Altair, Antares and Deneb.
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