Dodging the Drifts

This image taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is a portion of a mosaic acquired by the panoramic camera. The picture highlights the light-toned outcrop on the rim of "Erebus Crater" and large, dark, wind-deposited drifts that have filled the center of the crater. Opportunity took this image on the rover's 608th sol (Oct. 9, 2005). The rover is driving west, avoiding the large drifts and crossing the low ripples and outcrop to the right. After traversing to the north of the large drift on the horizon (near the center of the image), Opportunity will drive south to the western rim of the crater.