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Curiosity lands on Mars! (photos)

Some of the first photos NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, took after it touched down at 1:32am EDT. Plus, images of the landing spot and celebration at NASA.
By Laura Shin, Contributor
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One of Curiosity's first photos from Mars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Artist's conception: Curiosity examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of the rover's arm, which extends about 7 feet. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Curiosity's shadow (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., celebrate the landing. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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As the rover descended toward Mars, it communicated basic radio-frequency tones directly to Earth (pink dashes) and more complex UHF radio data (blue circles) that required relaying by orbiters. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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In June, NASA narrowed down the landing target for Curiosity from the wider, fainter circle seen here to the darker, narrower circle. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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NASA divided up the landing zone (in red) and the adjacent area into quadrangles. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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This weather map of Mars was taken Aug. 4, 2012 to forecast weather conditions for Curiosity. The atmosphere was clear and seasonal around Gale Crater. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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This image shows changes in the target landing area for Curiosity. The larger ellipse was the target area prior to early June 2012, when the project revised it to the smaller ellipse centered nearer to the foot of Mount Sharp, inside Gale Crater. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Gale Crater on Mars, where Curiosity landed, belongs to a family of large, very old craters shown here on this elevation map. It has one of the lowest elevations among this family. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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This graphic shows the locations of the cameras on Curiosity. The rover's mast features seven cameras: the Remote Micro Imager, part of the Chemistry and Camera suite; four black-and-white Navigation Cameras (two on the left and two on the right) and two color Mast Cameras (Mastcams). (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will study chemistry of rocks, soil and air as the mission's rover, Curiosity, investigates Gale Crater on Mars. SAM was built at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., where this image was taken. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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This image illustrates the principles of a technique called "laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy," which the ChemCam will use on Mars. The technique fires pulses of a laser at a target such as a rock. Energy from the laser excites a pinhead-size spot on the target into glowing, ionized gas called plasma. Spectrometers in the instrument analyzes the spectrum of light emitted by the plasma to identify chemical elements in the target. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Detail observed from 10 feet away with Curiosity's ChemCam. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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The launch of Curiosity on November 26, 2011 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (United Launch Alliance)

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The Mars Science Laboratory team celebrating after Curiosity landed and began sending back images. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

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