This is really neat. :)
'Burns Cliff' Color Panorama
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20041213a/Burns_Cliff_L257T-B313R1_br2.jpg
Is this real or created from software? This is awesome.
Unless NASA have been lying to us for the last 3 years about the rovers.. it's real, was posted on the rover site http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html) a while ago.
Rgds
Chris
Real, yet not entirely so. It was based on real data, but it's not a photograph by any means. Here is the full explanation:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/specialEffects/opportunity/ (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/specialEffects/opportunity/)
Here is a quote:
QuoteThis synthetic image of NASA's Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover inside Endurance Crater was produced using "Virtual Presence in Space" technology. Developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., this technology combines visualization and image processing tools with Hollywood-style special effects. The image was created using a photorealistic model of the rover and an approximately full-color mosaic. The size of the rover in the image is approximately correct and was based on the size of the rover tracks in the mosaic.
I like the bit about Hollywood-style special effects...
<Mild troll mode on>
To be pedantic....
The "hollywood sfx" image you linked to is one based on the image originally linked, you can see the rover from it's own camera in the first image.
Unless of course you discount the original image as real because it is a mosaic. ;)
<Mild Troll mode off>
Rgds
Chris
red_planet would get work-up about mars :P