NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has nearly completed its three-month examination of a crater informally named "Santa Maria," but before the rover resumes its overland trek, an orbiting camera has provided a color image of Opportunity beside Santa Maria.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired the image on March 1, while Opportunity was extending its robotic arm to take close-up photos of a rock called "Ruiz Garcia." From orbit, the tracks Opportunity made as it approached the crater from the west are clearly visible. Santa Maria crater is about 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter.

The HiRISE image is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA13803 . March 1 corresponded to the 2,524th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. A raw image from Opportunity's front hazard-avoidance camera from the same day, showing the arm extended to Ruiz Garcia, is at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/f/2524/1F352255948EFFB1F5P1110L0M1.HTML .