Check Out This Collection Of Amazing Panoramic Mars Images From The Curiosity Rover

As the Curiosity rover slowly sets up shop on the red planet, we earthlings are getting our first look at never-before seen images of the unexplored landscape around the landing site. A number of panoramic images have been created and are beginning to pop up on the web. While NASA has yet to photograph the beautiful Mt. Sharp, a 3-mile high mountain not far from the landing site and one of the main objectives of the mission, the panoramas that have been put together are still quite impressive.

360pano.eu has put together a panoramic image showing almost all of what we have received from Curiosity. The only caveat here is that they have smoothed over missing pieces and taken artistic liberty to colorize and fill out the entire canvas. Take it with a grain of salt - however, I do think that this is the most impressive display so far.

NASA's panorama, as hosted by the Wall Street Journal, is similarly impressive, although no effort has been made to fill in missing information. While this is the most factual panorama, you don't get the seamless 360-degree view that the 360pano version provides.

While not from the Curiosity rover itself, the Opportunity Rover panorama, located at panoramas.dk, was created in January of 2012. Taken at a location known as Greeley Haven, this panorama gives you a great idea of what we can expect from a full-color Curiosity panorama once the rover is all set up and completes filling in the gaps left by the current images.

I will be sure to give an update when Curiosity has completed a few panoramas of the red planet, until then, enjoy, and check out the fantastic Wikipedia article on the program if you aren't up to speed.