[JRandomFreeper]

Does anyone know the lat/long of the center of the landing ellipse?

/johnny

[hattend]

From the JPL website:

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For comparison, the Mars Phoenix Lander had a landing ellipse the size of Gale Crater, but the Mars rover Curiosity will land within a small area inside of Gale.

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If you know where Gale Crater is, there you go.

[hattend]

Gale Crater spans 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter and holds a mountain (which is informally named "Mount Sharp" to pay tribute to geologist Robert P. Sharp) rising higher from the crater floor than Mount Rainier rises above Seattle! Gale is about the combined area of Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Curiosity will land somewhere within a landing ellipse that is approximately 4 miles wide and 12 miles long (7 kilometers by 20 kilometers). The landing ellipse is about 14,400 feet (4,400 meters) below Martian "sea level" (defined as the average elevation around the equator). The expected near-surface atmospheric temperatures at the Gale Crater landing site during Curiosity's primary mission (1 Martian year or 687 Earth days) are from - 130 F to 32 F (-90 C to 0 C). http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/timeline/prelaunch/landingsiteselection/aboutgalecrater/

[hattend]

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/timeline/prelaunch/landingsiteselection/aboutgalecrater/

Location:
4.5 degrees south latitude, 137.4 degrees east longitude

Diameter:
96 miles (154 kilometers)

Elevation:
14,400 feet (4,400 meters) below Martian “sea level”

Temperature Range:
From - 130 F to 32 F (-90 C to 0 C)

Landing Ellipse:
4 miles wide and 12 miles long (7 kilometers by 20 kilometers)

Crater mound height:
3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) above the crater floor

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And for FReeper BIGLOOK:

Local time at landing:
Approximately 3 p.m. Mars local time