Curiosity's 360 Degree Mars Dune

So, first of all - pardon my ignorance if i'm totally new to this theory or if that my positions are not factually accurate.
I've always disregarded most theories that we never made it to the moon or that we don't have Curiosity on Mars.
I was looking at the 360 video posted on Discovery of Curiosity parked at the bottom of a dune.
Get Immersed in Curiosity's 360 Degree Mars Dune

It is a youtube video which you can pan around 360 degrees from the camera's position atop of the rover.
What I found, odd I guess, is when you scroll directly up - it appears as though the sun is just overhead. Is that what that could be? Does the sun shine on Mars? (again, ignorance)
Even further - what I found especially peculiar was the slight shadow cast atop this light source. I screenshot it and posted it below.
If this is indeed an light source coming from directly above the rover - why is there a shadow on top of the center of the source while light emanates from the bottom of it. It looks more like it's a light source poking at the edge of a convex bubble of some sorts.
As if this whole image is simply a small model of the rover on a sandy, dune covered stage with a backdrop over it and light outside of it.






Thoughts?

yep, that's a cool shot 360 around......I can't figure the colors in the air up there.....

somethings up, though...huh! Are you seeing the cgi effect there.........almost like a cut and paste , with Canada within 8 feet......all the rest has blurriness at the edges...

originally posted by: GBP/JPY
yep, that's a cool shot 360 around......I can't figure the colors in the air up there.....

somethings up, though...huh! Are you seeing the cgi effect there.....

....almost like a cut and paste , with Canada within 8 feet......all the rest has blurriness at the edges...

I'm not so sure it's staged somewhere outdoors. IF it's staged, I think it's a model set indoors somewhere.

Yes. the sun shines on Mars. If it didn't you wouldn't be able to see it shining in the night sky.

The 360 is a composite of lots of images, so the effect you're seeing is a result of that.

originally posted by: MrPlow
What I found, odd I guess, is when you scroll directly up - it appears as though the sun is just overhead. Is that what that could be? Does the sun shine on Mars? (again, ignorance)

The sun is one hypotheses, the Death Star with its headlights on is another. What else could it be?

Even further - what I found especially peculiar was the slight shadow cast atop this light source. I screenshot it and posted it below.

Not so peculiar if you consider that you can damage your eyes or camera sensors by pointing either directly into the sun. Some cameras have built-in protection to avoid damage from being pointed directly at a bright light source, but one of the Early Apollo cameras didn't and it got fried when the astronaut accidentally pointed it toward the sun.

Anyway look at the "shadows" in this video of car headlights, you can get similar artifacts aiming cameras at any bright light source depending on the camera, and they aren't really shadows, they're artifacts of how the camera operates with bright light sources:

Black DOT on the SUN Explained - CCD Chip -built in protection against damage to camera

originally posted by: MrPlow
What I found, odd I guess, is when you scroll directly up - it appears as though the sun is just overhead. Is that what that could be? Does the sun shine on Mars? (again, ignorance)

Yes, the Sun shines on Mars.

No, that's not the Sun on that 360º panorama, as Curiosity doesn't waste time taking photos of the empty sky just to fill a panorama, so most people fill the sky for which we have no photos with what I suppose is an average colour and choose an arbitrary position for the Sun. Some people use a real photo of the Sun (to get a real idea of the size), others create their own Sun in Photoshop or something like that.

PS: I have made several panoramas, but I wasn't able to align correctly two photos for making this specific panorama.

Thank you all!