Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2016

I n September 2016, Curiosity rover had clocked up 1,500 days (equal to 1460 Martians sols) inside Gale Crater, and the event was fittingly celebrated by NASA with the early release of some spectacular images of finely stratified rock formations which clearly confirm the fundamental ac- tion of the wind and water in the evolu- tion of the Martian surface. These very detailed pictures were taken in an area cal- led Murray Buttes, located at the base of Mount Sharp, which, with its altitude of T he background image shows a grandiose view of the Mur- ray Buttes region taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The yellow line shows Curiosity’s path and stopping stages (dots with the sols of ref- erence). The images that follow were taken by the rover during its last stop there. [NASA/JPL- Caltech/Univ. of Arizona] NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2016