Mars Science Laboratory on its way

On the 26th of November 2011, the Mars Science Laboratory was launched from Cape Canaveral. This timelapse sequence shows a plume drifting against the background stars, probably caused by venting from the Centaur rocket after it carried out a burn over the Indian Ocean. This is the fullest set of images available as a timelapse sequence. The original data is the same as the previous two videos, but with extra processing. <br><br>This sequence was built from cropped & processed frames (originals: JPEG; 3504x2336, cropped to 1440x1080). The 1080p HD version is therefore scaled 1:1 from the original image files. Exposure details given on image overlay. Observing site: -27.630779,152.966324, altitude 40m approx. <br><br>Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium colleague Mark Rigby was observing visually, from about 16.15 UT, and assisted with initial analysis of the appearance of the plume. There are more images and discussion of this event on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BrisbanePlanetarium">Planetarium's Facebook page</a>. <a href="http://ausalba.weebly.com/contact.html">More info from Duncan Waldron here</a>. (Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/ozalba">@ozalba</a>)