"Curiosity's landing site is beginning to come into focus," said John Grotzinger, project manager of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, in an announcement touting a black-and-white, 512-pixel by 512-pixel image, taken by Curiosity's rear-left Hazcam two hours after Curiosity's landing.

"In the image, we are looking to the northwest. What you see on the horizon is the rim of Gale Crater. In the foreground, you can see a gravel field.

The question is: where does this gravel come from? It is the first of what will be many scientific questions to come from our new home on Mars."

In a news conference Monday, engineers and scientists heading the mission showed off some of the images coming in from Curiosity, as well as those from the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which was able to capture a photo of Curiosity parachuting toward the surface of Mars.