The light at its peak but also its progressive decline, as it is captured on the planet Mars in two different time intervals within 24 hours, combined with the amazing space landscape, was captured by the lens of NASA’s Curiosity, as the rover was leaving the planet.

After completing a major software update in April, NASA’s Curiosity rover took one last look at the “Marker Band Valley” before leaving it behind, capturing a “postcard” of the scenery.

The postcard takes a rather artistic approach to capturing the landscape, with color added to two black-and-white panoramic shots captured by Curiosity’s navigation cameras.

The photos were taken on April 8 at 9:20 am. and at 3:40 p.m. local time on Mars, capturing a starkly different illumination that, when combined, makes the details in the image stand out.

Blue was added to parts of the postcard taken in the morning and yellow to parts taken in the afternoon, just as was done with a similar postcard taken by Curiosity in November 2021.

The resulting image is impressive.

Curiosity sits at the foot of Mount Sharp, which sits 3 miles (5 kilometers) high in Gale Crater, where the rover has been exploring since landing in 2012.

In the distance beyond its tracks lies the Marker Band Valley, a meandering area the rover discovered unexpected signs of an ancient lake.

Further down (center and just to the right) are two hills – “Bolívar” and “Deepdale” – between which Curiosity drove while exploring the “Paraitepuy Pass”.

“Anyone who has been to a national park knows that the landscape looks different in the morning than it does in the afternoon,” said Curiosity engineer Doug Ellison of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who designed and processed the images.

“Shooting at two different times of the same day captures dark shadows because the lighting is coming from the left and right, which we might have on a stage – but instead of stage lights, we’re relying on the Sun.”