Opportunity's panoramic views of Mars

On January 24, 2004, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity landed on Mars, beginning what has turned into an incredible nine years of exploration of the Red Planet. Landing three weeks after its exploratory twin, Spirit, which shut down in 2010, Opportunity is still going strong.

Since its arrival at the Matijevic Hill area on the western rim of Endeavour Crater, where this 210 degree panorama image was captured on November 19, 2012, the rover has driven about 22 miles, delivering 176,258 raw images along the way, extending its research well beyond its initial three month mission.

Aside from a trip to Mars (which you might take one day), these selected panoramic images are the next best thing to being there.

See the full-size panorama here.