Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2016

26 PLANETOLOGY O n 8 Septem- ber 2016, while passing between the Murray Buttes, near a land fea- ture called Nauk- 5,500 metres, is the central peak of Gale Crater (although its origin does not seem to be a direct consequence of the crater formation). The Murray Buttes region is partly named after Bruce C. Murray (the prominent planetary scientist, co-founder of the Planetary Society and keen scholar of Mars), and to indicate that this area is characterized by isolated hills, with steep slopes and flat tops (called in fact ‘buttes'). For a few months Curiosity has roamed around land features of this type (only