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Opportunity

Opportunity was a NASA Mars rover, part of the Mars Exploration Rover mission, that landed in Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004. Originally designed for a 90‑sol mission, it operated for nearly 15 years—more than 5,000 sols—traversing over 45 km and providing strong evidence that Mars once held liquid water. It ceased communications after a global dust storm in June 2018 and was declared complete in February 2019.

Source: science.nasa.gov

APODs including "Opportunity"

Crossing The Ring Plane

01/08/1995

Crossing The Ring Plane
Image Credit: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

August 1, 1995 Crossing The Ring Plane Credit: NASA, Hubble Space Telescope Explanation: "I do not know what to say in a case so surprising, so unlooked for and so novel." announced Galileo when Saturn's rings appeared to vanish in 1612. In fact, every 15 years Saturn's rings seem to almost disappear as viewed from the Earth. This happens just as the orbiting Earth crosses the plane of Saturn's rings. The edge on perspective temporarily robs astronomers of a spectacular sight, however, the ring plane crossing affords them the opportunity to measure the rings' thickness and search for undiscovered moons. In this image of Saturn, produced on May 22, 1995 by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, two of Saturn's known moons are visible as star like objects to the left of the planet. For more information about the ring plane crossing see the Saturn Ring Plane Crossing web page .