APOD: 2026 October 3 – Selfie at Vera Rubin Ridge

The image shows NASA's Curiosity rover on sol 1943 of its Mars exploration journey, at the south rim of Vera Rubin Ridge. A sol is a Martian solar day, about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, and sol 1943 corresponds to Earth date January 23, 2018. The image was also composed as an interactive 360-degree VR panorama.

The mosaicked panorama combines 61 exposures taken by the car-sized rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). Frames containing the imager's arm were edited out, while the extended background was taken by the rover's Mastcam on sol 1903. At the top of the rover's mast, above the Mastcam, the laser-firing ChemCam housing blocks out the distant, 5-kilometer-high peak of Mount Sharp.

On Earth date August 26, 2026, Curiosity marked a total elevation gain of 1 kilometer in its trek from the floor of Gale Crater up the slope of Mount Sharp. The item also notes that APOD's email for image submissions has changed, with credit for the image going to NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS, and panorama creator Andrew Bodrov; APOD editors are Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Robert Nemiroff, and Keighley Rockcliffe, and tomorrow's picture is titled "Sunday's Childe."