2021-06-25

3-D Puzzle: Stereoscopic Corner #5

Contributed by Brian May and Claudia Manzoni

My brilliant Astro-Stereo colleague Claudia Manzoni (@lonely_whispers on Twitter) spotted this great illustration of the power of 3-D … assembling stereos from the data in the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover archive.

Can YOU figure out, looking at the mono image featured above, what is going on here? Look at those wheel tracks. Are you trying to figure out how the Perseverance rover could have climbed this incline and not broken itself falling off the other end ? Well, it baffled me. But then take a look at the stereo versions of the image below – first for parallel eyes, then for crosseyed viewing, and then as an anaglyph for red/blue glasses. Suddenly we get it – right ? Tell me what you see on my Instagram feed (brianmayforreal).

Stereo view for parallel viewers of a Mastcam-Z left-right image pair taken on sol 123 (June 25, 2021).

Stereo view for cross-eyed viewing of a Mastcam-Z left-right image pair taken on sol 123 (June 25, 2021).

Stereo view for red/blue glasses viewing of an alaglyph made from Mastcam-Z left-right image pair taken on sol 123 (June 25, 2021).

Are you feeling grateful for stereopsis ? 😊

Cheers – Brian May and Claudia Manzoni