This new picture from the Mars Curiosity rover captures purple-colored rocks on the floor of decrease Mount Sharp.
Credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSMars could seem pink when seen from Earth, however NASA's Curiosity rover has captured an up-close photograph of the planet's mountainous panorama, with purple-colored rocks littered throughout the foreground.
This outstanding new photograph was captured close to the bottom of Mars' Mount Sharp. The picture's three frames had been taken by Curiosity's Mast Digital camera (Mastcam)on Nov. 10.
"Variations in shade of the rocks trace on the range of their composition on decrease Mount Sharp. The purple tone of the foreground rocks has been seen in different rocks the place Curiosity's Chemical and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument has detected hematite," or a kind of iron-oxide mineral, NASA officers mentioned in a press release. "Winds and windblown sand on this a part of Curiosity's traverse and on this season are inclined to hold rocks comparatively freed from mud, which in any other case can cloak rocks' shade." [Amazing Mars Photos by NASA's Curiosity Rover (Latest Images)]
Mount Sharp rises three miles (5 kilometers) from the middle of Mars' 96-mile-wide (154 km) Gale Crater. After arriving on the crater in 2012, Curiosity discovered proof that advised that the realm may have supported microbial life within the historical previous.
Along with the purple rocks within the foreground, the pictures from Curiosity seize increased layers of Mount Sharp. The rover will proceed to traverse these slopes all through the remainder of its mission.
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This uphill trek started in October on the orange-colored rocks of the Murray formation, close to the bottom of Mount Sharp. Subsequent the rover will climb upward to the Hematite Unit, adopted by the Clay Unit and the rounded hills of the Sulfate Unit — which is Curiosity's highest deliberate vacation spot. Finding out the composition of those completely different rock layers may also help scientists be taught extra about Mars' previous.
The photographs have a white-balanced shade adjustment that resembles how rocks and sand would seem underneath daytime lighting circumstances on Earth. This helps geologists who examine the rocks acknowledge shade patterns that they're conversant in on Earth, NASA officers mentioned within the assertion.
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