The latest Curiosity images. Images of the red planet from the Curiosity rover. The face of an ancient god
On August 7, 2012, Curiosity, a complex 900-kilogram rover equipped with the latest technology, began operating on the surface of Mars. In the future, Curiosity may become one of the most successful space missions: the scientific equipment on board is designed to study in detail the geological history of Mars and shed light on the question of life on this still mysterious planet. Despite the fact that the main work of the device will end after 668 Martian days, in total Curiosity is capable of operating for at least 14 years
Typical Martian landscape during the day
Part of the Gale Crater mosaic
Curiosity wheel track on the sand of Mars
Sand, dust and stone called Burwash. The picture was taken from a distance of 11.5 cm from the stone, the dimensions of the picture are 7.6 by 5.7 cm
Sand drift, from the slope of which Curiosity took soil samples. On the left we see a raw image of the dune, showing what it looks like on Mars, where the sky often has a reddish tint due to the large amount of dust. On the right, the image has been processed to show what the same area would look like on Earth. The size of the round stone above the center of the image is about 20 cm
“Blueberries” are small spherical inclusions in the Martian soil. The balls measure about 3 mm and contain a large number of red iron ore, which forms in the presence of water
The picture shows the bottom of the vehicle, all six wheels and the marks left by them. In the foreground are two pairs of black and white HAZCAM navigation cameras
Curiosity has just climbed the Rocknest dune to take the first soil samples of the Red Planet. The image was taken on October 3, 2012, on the 57th day of operation of the device
The MAHLI camera looks at Curiosity's wheel.
Morning on Mars
Dark gray Martian rock. The image was taken by a MAHLI camera from a distance of 27 cm. The area of the image is 16 by 12 cm, and the resolution is 105 microns per pixel. Despite its impressive clarity, scientists have been unable to resolve the granules or crystals that make up the stone.
The “Pyramid” on Mars is a rock called Jake Matijevic. The image was received on September 21, 2012.
Studying the "Pyramid" at close range. Chemical analysis of the stone showed that it is rich in alkali metals, as well as halogens - chlorine and bromine. Judging by the spectrum, this stone is a mosaic of individual grains of minerals, including pyroxene, feldspar and olivine. In general, the composition of the stone is very atypical for Martian rocks
Color image of a "pyramid" on Mars. The image has been white-balanced to reveal differences in the inclusions on the stone.
On the 55th day of stay on Mars. Curiosity's focus is on a sandy deposit called Rocknest, from the slope of which the rover took its first soil samples.
Remains of an ancient stream bed on Mars. The fact that water once flowed in this place is evidenced by many pieces of gravel and rocks that have a smooth round shape. In addition, the size of some of these pebbles suggests that they could only have been transported by a stream of water. The rock, chipped like a broken sidewalk, is of sedimentary origin
Looking back on the journey
Evening on Mars. The image was taken on day 49 of Curiosity's operation.
The Martian stone, which received the name Et-Then from scientists. The image was taken by the MAHLI camera (Mars Hand Lens Imager) on October 29, 2012, on the 82nd day of Curiosity’s stay on the Red Planet. The rock was photographed from a distance of 40 cm, the width of the image is only 25 cm. Et-Zen was discovered near the left front wheel of the device when Curiosity was preparing to take soil samples in the town of Rocknest
Rocks on Mars. Mosaic obtained by the MAHLI camera on the 76th day of Curiosity's stay on the Mysterious Planet
New colored photo of the surface of the planet Mars 2019 high-resolution images with descriptions from NASA's Earth, Space Telescope and Mars Curiosity rover.
If you have never seen frosty deserts, then you need to visit the Red Planet. It didn't get its name by accident. photos of Mars from the Mars rover confirm this fact. Space– an amazing place where you can find completely unusual phenomena. So, the reddish color is created by iron oxide, that is, the surface is covered with rust. There are also amazing dust storms that show quality photo of Mars from space in high definition. Well, let’s not forget that for now this is the first goal in the search for extraterrestrial life. On our website you can see new real photos of the surface of Mars from rovers, satellites and telescopes from space.
High resolution photos of Mars
First photo of Mars
July 20, 1976 marked a turning point when Viking 1 captured the first photo of the surface of Mars. Its main tasks were to create high-resolution images to analyze the structure and atmospheric composition and look for signs of life.
Arsino-Chaos on Mars
On January 4, 2015, the HiRISE camera on MRO was able to capture a photograph of the surface of the Red Planet from space. This is the territory of Arsino-Chaos, located on the far eastern region of the Valles Marineris canyon. The damaged terrain may be based on the influence of massive water channels flowing in a northern direction. The curved landscape is represented by yardans. These are areas of rock that have passed sandblasting. Between them there are transverse sandy ridges - Aeolian. This is a real mystery, hidden between the dunes and ripples. The point is located at 7 degrees south. w. and 332 degrees E. w. HiRISE is one of 6 tools on MRO.
Attack on Mars
Martian Dragon Scale
This interesting surface texture is created due to the rock's contact with water. Review performed by MRO. Then the stone collapsed and came into contact with the surface again. Pink indicates Martian rock that has become clayey. There is still little information about water itself and its interaction with stone. And this is not surprising, because scientists have not yet focused on solving such questions. But understanding this will help understand the past climate situation. Latest analysis showed that the early environment may not have been as warm and wet as we would have liked. But this is not a problem for the development of Martian life. Therefore, researchers focus on terrestrial life forms that arise in dry and frosty areas. The scale of the Mars map is 25 cm per pixel.
Martian dunes
Martian ghosts
Martian rocks
Martian tattoos
Martian Niagara Falls
Escape from Mars
Surface Martian forms
The photo of the surface of Mars was taken with the HiRISE camera of the MRO apparatus flying in Martian orbit. Similar gully reliefs appear on many craters in mid-planetary latitudes. Changes began to be noticed for the first time in 2006. Nowadays many deposits are found in ravines. This photograph reflects new sediment in the southern mid-latitude Gasa Crater. The position is brighter in enhanced color photos. The image was mined in the spring, but the stream was formed in the winter. It is believed that the activity of the ravines awakens in winter and early spring.
Arrival and movement of Martian ice
Blue on the Red Planet
Follow the (bright) stream
Snowy Martian dunes
Mars Tattoos
Textures in Deuteronilus
Impact crater measuring about three kilometers
The surface of Mars is a dry and barren wasteland, covered with old volcanoes and craters.
Dunes through the eyes of Mars Odyssey
Photos show it can be hidden by a single sandstorm, hiding it from sight for days. Despite its formidable conditions, Mars is better studied by scientists than any other world in the solar system, except our own, of course.
Since the planet has almost the same tilt as Earth, and it has an atmosphere, it means there are seasons. The surface temperature is about -40 degrees Celsius, but at the equator it can reach +20. On the surface of the planet there are traces of water, and relief features formed by water.
Scenery
Let's take a closer look at the surface of Mars, information provided by numerous orbiters, as well as rovers, allows us to fully understand what the red planet is like. The ultra-clear images show dry, rocky terrain covered in fine red dust.
Red dust is actually iron oxide. Everything from the ground to small stones and rocks is covered with this dust.
Since there is no water or confirmed tectonic activity on Mars, its geological features remain virtually unchanged. Compared to the surface of the Earth, which experiences constant changes associated with water erosion and tectonic activity.
Surface of Mars video
The landscape of Mars consists of a variety of geological structures. It is home to a world famous solar system. That's not all. The most famous canyon in the solar system is Valles Marineris, also located on the surface of the Red Planet.
Look at the pictures from the Mars rovers, which show many details that are not visible from orbit.
If you want to look at Mars online, then
Surface photo
The images below are from Curiosity, the rover currently actively exploring the red planet.
To view in full screen mode, click on the button at the top right.
Panorama transmitted by the Curiosity rover
This panorama represents a section of Gale Crater where Curiosity is conducting its research. The high hill in the center is Mount Sharp, to the right of it you can see the ring rim of the crater in the haze.
To view in full size, save the image to your computer!
These photographs of the surface of Mars are from 2014 and, in fact, are the most recent at the moment.
Among all the features of the landscape of Mars, perhaps the most widely publicized are the mesas of Cydonia. Early photographs of the Sedonia region showed a hill shaped like a “human face”. However, later images, with higher resolution, showed us an ordinary hill.
Planet sizes
Mars is pretty small world. Its radius is half that of Earth, and it has a mass that is less than one tenth of ours.
Dunes, MRO image
More about Mars: The planet's surface consists mainly of basalt, covered with a thin layer of dust and iron oxide, which has the consistency of talc. Iron oxide (rust, as it is commonly called) gives the planet its characteristic red hue.
Volcanoes
In ancient times, volcanoes erupted continuously on the planet for millions of years. Due to the fact that Mars does not have plate tectonics, huge volcanic mountains were formed. Olympus Mons was formed in a similar way and is the largest mountain in the solar system. It is three times higher than Everest. Such volcanic activity may also partly explain the deepest valley in the solar system. Valles Marineris is believed to have been formed by the breakdown of material between two points on the surface of Mars.
Craters
Animation showing changes around a crater in the Northern Hemisphere
There are many impact craters on Mars. Most of these craters remain untouched because there are no forces on the planet capable of destroying them. The planet lacks wind, rain and plate tectonics that cause erosion on Earth. The atmosphere is much thinner than that of the Earth, so even small meteorites are able to reach the ground.
The current surface of Mars is very different from what it was billions of years ago. Orbiter data has shown that there are many minerals and signs of erosion on the planet that indicate the presence of liquid water in the past. It is possible that small oceans and long rivers once completed the landscape. The last remnants of this water were trapped underground in the form of ice.
Total number of craters
There are hundreds of thousands of craters on Mars, of which 43,000 are larger than 5 kilometers in diameter. Hundreds of them were named after scientists or famous astronomers. Craters less than 60 km across have been named after cities on Earth.
The most famous is Hellas Basin. It measures 2,100 km across and is up to 9 km deep. It is surrounded by emissions that stretch 4,000 km from the center.
Cratering
Most of the craters on Mars were likely formed during the late "heavy bombardment" period of our solar system, which occurred approximately 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago. During this period, a large number of craters formed on all celestial bodies in the Solar System. Evidence for this event comes from studies of lunar samples, which have shown that most rocks were created during this time interval. Scientists cannot agree on the reasons for this bombing. According to the theory, the gas giant's orbit changed and, as a result, the orbits of objects in the main asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt became more eccentric, reaching the orbits of the terrestrial planets.
Photos from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO or MRS) show features of Mars. For example, the first image above looks like a strange alien amoeba.
Below are other pictures of the planet, but let's look at them as a kind of Rorschach test. Perhaps some of the photos will seem like bacteria or amoebas under a microscope, or strange sea creatures on the ocean floor.
This is also one way to highlight the importance of the CTX context camera in studying the Red Planet. The HiRISE camera produces spectacular high-resolution images of the planet's surface, but its photos (as at the beginning of the article) are sometimes difficult to interpret. In this case, scientists use images from CTX; they have lower resolution, but a larger area with the surrounding landscape and geological formations is captured in the frame. As a result, the image of the bacterium turns into a crater with a peak in the center.
In fact, the close-up shows a formation in the Martian landscape that resembles a depression with drainage channels in the surrounding depressions.
The MPC context camera helps you put the scene into perspective.
NASA says the strange-looking rippled areas are similar to areas where they have previously tested. Although the strange formations are closely monitored, there is still an element of mystery. Similar depressions with concentric depressions exist in other places on Mars, and their origin is widely debated.
People like exciting space stories. That's why it's so interesting to speculate about the unusual objects seen in images of Mars. Our imagination turns rocks into faces and cosmic rays into alien messages.
Join us as we explore some of Mars' most famous mysteries and the scientific explanations behind them.
Classic: Face of Mars
This iconic image of the surface of Mars was taken by NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft, which landed on the planet in 1976. Everyone was excited about the face-shaped formation at the top middle of the picture. If you have a creative mind, then you can easily spot two eyes, a nose, a mouth and a strange hairstyle. As a result, some people thought that the captured face was a monument on Mars. Some even recognized him as a young Elvis Presley.
New look at the Face of Mars
The space agency wanted to find a scientific explanation for the appearance of the “monument” in the photo. In 2001, the situation was clarified by the Mars Global Surveyor research station, which received a fresh photograph of the face. The new photo had a higher resolution, and in it the studied area appeared more shapeless and with less sharp features. In short, it's just a pile of rocks and not any kind of alien.
In 2014, the Curiosity rover took a photo showing a very strange rock that looked a bit like a human femur. According to scientists, the non-standard shape was formed under the influence of wind or water erosion. If human remains were found on Mars, the whole world would already know about it.
Strange pattern
In March 2018, NASA released this image taken by MRS under the dramatic title "The Case of the Martian Boulder Piles." Don't explore the open space, but look at the dark sand dunes. And you will see a surprisingly orderly series of boulder piles.
NASA scientists believe the neat piles may have formed due to “frost heaving,” which consists of freezing and thawing cycles that gave the rocks their neat shapes. A similar process is observed on Earth.
Donald Trump, is that you?
News headlines in 2016 were full of statements about the appearance of current US President Donald Trump in a photo of Mars. In 2009, Opportunity captured a rock that, according to media reports, resembles the head of a businessman with his prominent hair.
See in the rock famous person Journalists were helped by the psychological phenomenon of pareidolia, thanks to which in everyday life we notice familiar figures and outlines of animals in the clouds.
Morse code?
In the image captured by MRS in February 2016, strange formations are visible. The dark, towering areas are dunes, reminiscent of the dots and dashes of Morse code.
Unfortunately, the code means some kind of gobbledygook. Planetary scientist Veronica Bray analyzed the dune image and told Gizmodo that the code reads "NEE NED ZB 6TNN DEIBEDH SIEFI EBEEE SSIEI ESEE SEEE!!"
Tadpole on Mars
Admittedly, this formation spotted by MRS looks a lot like a tadpole, yo-yo, or even a sperm. In fact, it is a round crater, and the tail was formed under the influence of water flow.
In February 2018, the space agency stated:
Based on the necessary information about the elevation of the area, we can conclude that the water is flowing outward.
Although the planet was filled with water in the past, not a single amphibious life form has been found on it at present.
Did you order fish?
A rock in the shape of a fish was found on Mars, although real fish are not found here. The unusual formation was captured by the camera of the Curiosity rover, and fans of UFOs and aliens were absolutely delighted with it. During filming, the illusion of the presence of fish was created by the shape of the rock and its lighting.
NASA considers the possibility of the presence of fossilized bones and animals on Mars unlikely. The agency explains its position by saying that there has never been enough oxygen in the atmosphere and other places on the planet to support the life of complex organisms.
The devil is in the details
A distinctive jet trail appears in this picturesque landscape of Mars captured in 2016 by Opportunity. In reality, this is a dust devil, the same ones are found on Earth. Rising dust devils are one of the main dangerous weather conditions on Mars that future human visitors to the planet must prepare for.
Avalanche
In this 2010 MRS image, a cloud of particles rises up a sheer cliff. Some may perceive this as a sign of a factory on Mars, but most likely it is the result of an avalanche consisting mainly of frozen carbon dioxide. According to NASA, in most cases, such an event occurs when it is spring on the planet, which on Earth corresponds to April - early May.
Did you order a donut?
A donut-shaped object (yes, many people actually see it in this photo) suddenly appeared in Opportunity's before-and-after photos. Some speculated that it was an alien mushroom.
The space agency has solved the donut mystery, explaining its unexpected appearance by the fact that it was moved by the Mars rover during its research. For a complete set, snacks have yet to be found on the Red Planet.
Waffle Island on Mars
Donuts didn't work out on Mars, but NASA still has to figure out other edible finds on the planet. At the end of 2014, MRS captured an amazing wafer-shaped island on the surface of the planet. Measuring about 1.2 miles wide, it is in an area of lava movement. So you won’t find waffle irons on Mars, since, most likely, the observed shape of the island is the result of the movement of lava pushing the formation from the bottom up.
Dragon scales
Even NASA is excited about Game of Thrones, otherwise how can one explain why the space agency described this photo from the MRS as “Dragon Scales of Mars”.
The scaly pattern is not made by a mythical creature, but is the result of long-standing landscape processes associated with erosion. When NASA released this image in July 2017, it said the nature of how water interacts with rock and turns it into clay is not yet fully understood.
shiny object
In 2012, the Curiosity rover captured a bright, shiny object amid the dim landscape of Mars. All photos cover an area measuring 1.6 inches. NASA scientists have confirmed that the tiny bright piece is part of the geology of Mars.
floating spoon
Look at the center of the image taken by the Curiosity rover. Here you can see a spoon with a long handle casting a shadow downwards. Do you think people on Mars like to cook? But no. Mars has a weaker gravitational pull than Earth, so fragile formations like this one can float without falling to the surface.
A piece of metal on Mars
On Flickr, fans observing the surface of Mars have enhanced an image captured by Curiosity in early 2013 and highlighted an area that looks like a piece of metal. The explanation is not as funny as the imaginary races of alien blacksmiths. The object is either part of a meteorite, or simply came under strange lighting.
Table Mountain
In 2017, MRS looked down and captured this bizarre view in a region known as Noctis Labyrinthus, or the Labyrinth of Night. The undulating features around the mesa are sand dunes.
Heavily eroded, with boulder clusters and sand dunes on its surface, this layered mesa appears to be composed of sediment that is exhumed as it erodes.
Bright light at the end of the tunnel
In 2014, the Curiosity rover captured an interesting image showing a flash of light on the horizon of Mars. UFO fans became active and began to speculate about the light source as confirmation of the existence of aliens.
NASA scientist Doug Ellison shattered their illusions by explaining the flash of light by the passage of cosmic rays, that is, high-energy particles flying in space.
Part of the Mars rover
The next incident occurred in 2012, when the Curiosity rover noticed a shiny object on the surface that did not match its surroundings. However, the explanation turned out to be quite simple: NASA said that the object was a small piece of plastic that fell from the rover itself.
Mars rover sees "sticks"
It is difficult to judge the size of objects in close-up photographs of Mars. This image from Curiosity shows stick-like shapes, but they are only 6 millimeters long. Scientists speculate that they may be crystals or minerals.
Miniature meteorite
In mid-autumn 2016, while exploring the base of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, Curiosity discovered a small iron meteorite. The object could easily fit in the palm of your hand, so at first scientists mistook it for a stone. However, in close-up photographs, researchers saw complex structure surface, indicating that it was a meteorite. As a result, this find was called the “Stone Egg” (Egg Rock).
Shiny item
The explanation for the shiny object spotted by the Curiosity rover is quite disappointing. Using the ChemCam instrument installed on the rover, NASA scientists determined that this was just a piece of plastic from the rover itself. The agency believes that it will not have a negative impact on the environment. And we can create fictional stories about how this piece of plastic will attract the attention of an alien race hiding on the Red Planet.
Strange deep hole
NASA doesn't have a definitive answer regarding the strange circular pit spotted by MRS in 2017, but the circular formation is likely the result of a surface collapse or an impact crater.
The pit is located near the south pole of the planet. In the summer, when the sun is low, the circle really stands out against the background of the surrounding landscape.
Statue of a woman on Mars
In 2007, the Spirit rover's camera captured images of small rocks on the surface of the Red Planet. One formation stood out because it looked like a small walking humanoid (or Bigfoot).
The famous UFO blog UFO Sightings Daily began to speculate that this statue of a woman was created by the inhabitants of the planet. The Planetary Society quickly labeled the object an optical illusion and another manifestation of pareidolia, our brain's ability to assign familiar images to random shapes or sounds.
Another woman on Mars
On Mars, a rock in the shape of a woman has been encountered more than once. The following image from the Mars rover Curiosity excited adherents of alien theories in 2015. Small dark object, surrounded in a red circle, resembles a figurine of a girl in a dress. To discover it, you only need a strong imagination.
NASA media relations specialist Guy Webster, commenting on this situation, said that, as in this case, in photographs of Mars it is very easy to find rocks or other things similar to terrestrial objects.
A crab monster crawls on Mars
In July 2015, Curiosity took a photo that may have been mixed in with hundreds of other photos of Mars. However, she became famous thanks to a Facebook group that took a close-up of one tiny fragment of the photo and assured everyone that there was what looked like a crab monster lurking in the shadows. It could easily pass for Cthulhu.
Ultimately, the crab creature seen is just a funny interplay of light and shadow that will remain a rock formation.
Bigfoot skull
It's fun to imagine what aliens on Mars would look like if they were real. You might conjure up images of big heads with big black eyes, or something with crazy tentacles and sharp teeth. While searching for alien life on the Red Planet, UFO fans spotted a strange figure that they believe is the skull of Bigfoot.
The presented photo was taken by Curiosity in early 2016. The random rock was thought to resemble a skull with a round top and large eye sockets. Is this really a Bigfoot skull? Of course not. It's just a rock that might inspire funny sci-fi stories about Bigfoot on Mars.
Head of the Ancient God
The left half of the image was taken by the Opportunity rover, and the right half shows the Neo-Assyrian goddess, whose statue is in the British Museum. Did you see a slight resemblance? It was first noticed by UFO fans, who drew attention to this rock on Mars.
As is the case with other rock formations on the planet that are similar to terrestrial objects, this is the result collaboration our imagination and random light, and not the sign of an alien civilization with a penchant for carving sculptures.
Remains of the lander
The European Space Agency's ExoMars mission suffered a setback when its lander, Schiaparelli, crashed while landing on Mars in October 2016. MRS took this photo to help European Space Agency investigators figure out what happened to the ill-fated lander. A large dark spot corresponds to the crash site. Other highlighted areas show the front heat shield, parachute and rear heat shield.
Equipment for landing the rover
These prominent circles are located in the Eagle Crater (Eagl) on Mars. Look carefully at the upper right corner. Notice the little dot inside? This is the landing site that helped the Opportunity rover land on the planet's surface in 2004. The small dot in the lower left corner of the image is the outer shell and parachute.
NASA shared this recent photo of the landing gear in the crater in April 2017.
South Pole of Mars
This photo of the landscape resembles worm tracks or a strange anthill. In fact, it was the MRS that photographed the south pole of Mars in 2016. The surface of the pole consists of carbon dioxide (dry ice). There are no such formations created naturally on Earth.
The circular pits are holes in the dry ice layer that expand several meters every Martian year, NASA explains.
The face of a kissing alien
Get ready for a kiss! This Mars rock wants to kiss you. An unusual formation is similar to human face with eyes, nose, forehead, chin and lips ready to be kissed.
Alien fans spotted this rock while viewing images captured by Curiosity in 2016. It's a fun formation, but it's not a sign of alien life on the Red Planet.
Photos of aliens
With some free time and a little effort, anyone can find rocks on Mars that look like human or alien faces. The next two “faces” were captured by Curiosity in 2016. Again, this is explained by the pareidolia effect.
Blueberry
It's not edible. These hematite-rich beads are known by the cute nickname “blueberries.” In 2004, near Fram Crater, the Opportunity rover noticed small rocks a few millimeters in size.
Scratches on Mars
What does it look like? Claw marks? This is an image of a series of wavy lines captured by MRS in 2017. The space agency says the linear gullies were likely created by dry ice sliding down the slopes of sand dunes.
Collection of spheres
In 2004, Opportunity captured a stunning image of a hematite-rich “blueberry.” In 2012, he photographed a similar unusual formation, but this time on the Kirkwood outcrop.
Kirkwood's beads do not have the iron-rich blueberry composition and also differ in concentration, distribution and texture, NASA says.
These balls puzzled the space agency. The effects of erosion can be seen on some of the tiny spheres.
Bomb
In December 2017, a popular UFO fan blog posted a close-up of a spherical object spotted by the Curiosity rover and suggested it was a cannonball left over from a war on the Red Planet. The NASA rover team responded on Twitter that the clump is less than 5mm in size and is actually made of calcium, sodium and magnesium sulfate.
Mars was named after the god of war, but these strange things are not cannonballs. This is a pebble. With a radius of 5 mm, they are composed of calcium, sodium and magnesium sulfate, which distinguishes them from hematite-rich "blueberries".
Finely layered rocks in the "Murrey formation" layer of Mount Sharp (Mount Aeolis Mons). Credit: NASA
Since its deployment in 2012 on the surface of Mars, it has sent back many spectacular images of the Red Planet. In addition to photographing Earth from the surface of Mars, not to mention some remarkable ones, the rover also captured countless photographs showing the geological structure and surface features of Mars in great detail.
And with latest photos, published by NASA, the Curiosity rover provided us with a beautiful view of the "Murrey Buttes" region located at the bottom of Mount Sharp. These images were taken by Curiosity on September 8 and provide a wonderful insight into the geological history of the region.
With these photos, the Curiosity team hopes to assemble another color mosaic that provides a detailed look at the rocks of this region and desert landscape. As you can see from the photographs provided, the region is characterized by plateaus (table mountains) and outcrops, which are the eroded remains of ancient sandstone. Much like other sites around Mount Sharp, this area is of particular interest to the Curiosity team.
Rolling hills and layered outcrops in the Murray Formation of Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA
Over the years, scientists have realized that the layers of rock that form the base of Mount Sharp were accumulated by sediment deposited on the bottom of an ancient lake billions of years ago. Due to this, the geological formations are similar to those found in the desert regions of the southwestern United States.
Alvin Vasavada, Curiosity program scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said:
"The Murray Buttes region of Mars is reminiscent of the southwestern United States because of its outcroppings and mesas. In both areas, thick sedimentary layers were deposited by wind and water, eventually creating a "layer cake" of rock that was then exposed to erosion when conditions changed. In both places, layers of more resistant sandstone cover the mesas and outcrops because they protect the more easily eroded, fine-grained rocks underneath."
"Like Monument Valley near the Utah-Arizona border, Murray Buttes has only small remnants of these layers that once covered the entire surface. Both locations had wind-driven sand dunes, the same as what now appears "like crisscrossing layers of sandstone. There are, of course, many differences between Mars and the American southwest. For example, the southwest had large inland seas, while lakes existed in the southwest."
These sedimentary layers are believed to have been laid down over 2 billion years, and may have completely filled the crater at one point. Since lakes and streams are thought to have existed in Gale Crater 3.3-3.8 billion years ago, some of the lower sediment layers may have originally been deposited on the lake floor.
A hillside outcrop of finely laminated rocks in the Murray Formation below Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA
For this reason, the Curiosity team also collected drill samples from the Murray Buttes area for analysis. It began on September 9 after the rover finished photographing the surrounding area. As Vasavada explained:
"The Curiosity team drills regularly as the rover climbs Mount Sharp. We drill into the fine-grained rock that lay in the lakes to see how the chemistry of the lake has changed over time, and therefore environment. Curiosity drilled into the coarse sandstone that forms the top layers of the remnants when the rover crossed the Naukluft Plateau earlier this year."
Once drilling is complete, Curiosity will continue to move further south and higher up Mount Sharp, leaving these beautiful formations behind. These photos show Curiosity's final stop at Murray Buttes, where the rover has spent the last month.
By September 11, 2016, Curiosity had spent only 4 years and 36 days (1497 days) on the planet Mars.
One has to wonder how people using pareidolia are going to interpret all of this? After "seeing" a rat, a lizard, a donut, a coffin, etc., what is left? May I suggest that the photo above looks like a pillar statue?
Title of the article you read "Stunning new images of Mars from the Curiosity rover".
