                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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.

                                 2021 May 1

                         Perseverance from Ingenuity
                 Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Ingenuity

   Explanation: Flying at an altitude of 5 meters (just over 16 feet), on
   April 25 the Ingenuity helicopter snapped this sharp image. On its
   second flight above the surface of Mars, its color camera was looking
   back toward Ingenuity's current base at Wright Brothers Field and
   Octavia E. Butler Landing marked by the tracks of the Perseverance
   rover at the top of the frame. Perseverance itself looks on from the
   upper left corner about 85 meters away. Tips of Ingenuity's landing
   legs just peek over the left and right edges of the camera's field of
   view. Its record setting fourth flight completed on April 30, Ingenuity
   collected images of a potential new landing zone before returning to
   Wright Brothers Field. Ingenuity's fifth flight would be one-way though
   as the Mars aircraft moves on to the new airfield, anticipating a new
   phase of operational demonstration flights.

                   Tomorrow's picture: clouds of the keel
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

