First Curiosity color photo unveiled

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PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The first color image from Mars taken by the Curiosity rover has been received, showing a wall and rim of the landing site area of Gale Crater, NASA said.

This view of the landscape to the north of the rover was acquired by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the afternoon of the first day after landing, a release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., reported Tuesday.

The image is murky, the Curiosity team said, because the MAHLI's removable transparent dust cover is coated with dust blown onto the camera during the rover's descent to the Mars surface.

Images taken without the dust cover will have to await the removal of the dust cover, not scheduled for a week, they said.

The MAHLI camera's main purpose will be to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field site.

The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of about 0.8 inch (25/32 of an inch, 20.32 mm)to infinity.