                        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.

                               2022 November 4

                           InSight's Final Selfie
                Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Mars InSight

   Explanation: The Mars InSight lander returned its first image from the
   Red Planet's flat, equatorial Elysium Planitia after a successful
   touchdown on November 26, 2018. The history making mission to explore
   the martian Interior using Seismic investigations, geodesy, and heat
   transport has been operating for over 1,400 martian days or sols. In
   that time the InSight mission has detected more than 1,300 marsquakes
   and recorded data from Mars-shaking meteoroid impacts, observing how
   the seismic waves travel to provide a glimpse inside Mars. Analyzing
   the archive of data collected is expected to yield discoveries for
   decades. But InSight's final operational sol is likely not far off. The
   reason is evident in this selfie recorded earlier this year showing its
   deck and large, 2-meter-wide solar panels covered with dust. Kicked up
   by martian winds the dust continues to accumulate and drastically
   reduce the power that can be generated by InSight's solar panels.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

