The "little man from Mars"

But... what if the little man walked very slowly?

Okay, 80 seconds isn't a long time. Maybe the little Martian man is walking at a snail's pace. But this point is made clear by another aspect of Spirit's imaging: It's set up that before the rover takes a full panoramic image (technically, a "panoramic" image), it must take a full panoramic image (technically, a "panoramic" image) of its own.Pancam panorama«), this takes said image in a fast low-resolution version («Navcam panorama«).

The Navcam image was taken 3 days earlier (sun 1364) than the Pancam (sun 1367). As you can see in the compilation below (Navcams and Pancams, plus a 3D anaglyph), the “little man” remained in the same position the whole time.

¿How tall is the "little man" really?

Once again, Spirit's instrumental comes into play here. Using software called AlgorimancerPG, which basically uses the rover's binocular vision to estimate distances and sizes of objects around it. In the case of the "little man", the software has determined that he is about 5 meters from the rover, so his size cannot be greater than about 6 centimeters (something like the little figure you see on the side). And if you have 3D glasses (if not, they are quite easy to build), you will be able to have a view of the "little man" almost as if you were looking at him from Spirit itself.