Captain's Log, Supplemental

And so it was just about this time, five years ago, that Spirit took the Husband Hill panorama -- a beautiful color panorama taken from the very summit of Husband Hill. (It's also called the "Everest panorama," and sharp-eyed readers might notice it's the image at the very top of this blog page.)

The rovers have returned more than a quarter of a million images, but this one would be on my list of the top five or so. There's so much in this image. First, and maybe most importantly, are Spirit's own tracks leading to the summit, a record of the struggle and hardship we faced on the way up -- and the relentless determination we showed in its face. In the distance, there's a dust devil on the plains, caught in the act of moving between frames. (So it looks like two dust devils, but it's really one, moving as Spirit took her images using a series of three different-colored filters.)

And, of course, there's Home Plate, to whose immediate west Spirit sits today, trying -- I hope, I fervently hope -- to phone home.


The Husband Hill panorama. (The link takes you to the full -- very large -- image.)