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.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Mars
Publications with words: Mars
See also:
- APOD: 2024 December 3 Á Ice Clouds over a Red Planet
- APOD: 2024 November 10 Á Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars
- APOD: 2024 September 9 Á Mars: Moon, Craters, and Volcanos
- APOD: 2024 June 5 Á Shadow of a Martian Robot
- Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited
- The Shadow of Ingenuity s Damaged Rotor Blade
- APOD: 2023 November 7 Á A Martian Dust Devil Spins By