Tuesday, October 11, 2016

A Crumbling Layered Butte on Mars


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.


Image & info via APOD
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS;
Compilation & Processing : Kenneth Kremer, Marco Di Lorenzo

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