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> Martian surface seen from the rover Curiosity 09/2015

Martian surface seen from the rover Curiosity 09/2015

author: Nasa/JPL/MSSS/Novapix

reference: a-mar13-00870

Image Size 300 DPI: 19 * 9 cm

This composite image looking toward the higher regions of Mount Sharp was taken on September 9, 2015, by NASA's Curiosity rover. In the foreground -- about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the rover -- is a long ridge teeming with hematite, an iron oxide. Just beyond is an undulating plain rich in clay minerals. And just beyond that are a multitude of rounded buttes, all high in sulfate minerals. The changing mineralogy in these layers of Mount Sharp suggests a changing environment in early Mars, though all involve exposure to water billions of years ago. Further back in the image are striking, light-toned cliffs in rock that may have formed in drier times and now is heavily eroded by winds. The colors are adjusted so that rocks look approximately as they would if they were on Earth, to help geologists interpret the rocks. This "white balancing" to adjust for the lighting on Mars overly compensates for the absence of blue on Mars, making the sky appear light blue and sometimes giving dark, black rocks a blue cast.

Keywords for this photo:

2015 - ASTRONOMY - CURIOSITY - LANDSCAPE - MARS - MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY - MARTIAN SURFACE - MSL - PLANET - SOIL -