 |
Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Осыпающийся слоистый холм на Марсе http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1370072/eng |
Credit & Copyright: NASA,
JPL-Caltech,
MSSS;
Compilation & Processing :
Kenneth Kremer, Marco Di Lorenzo
Explanation:
What is this unusual mound on Mars?
NASA's Curiosity rover rolling across
Mars
has come across a group of these mounds that NASA has labelled
Murray Buttes.
Pictured is a recently assembled mosaic image of one of the
last of the buttes passed by
Curiosity on its way up
Mt. Sharp -- but also one of the most visually spectacular.
Ancient
water-deposited
layers
in relatively dense -- but now dried-out and crumbling --
windblown sandstone
tops the 15-meter tall structure.
The rim of
Gale crater
is visible in the distance.
Curiosity continues
to accumulate clues about how
Mars
changed
from a planet with areas wet and hospitable to
microbial
life to the
dry, barren,
rusted landscape seen today.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.