Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Layered Rocks near Mount Sharp on Mars

NASA ^ | February 09, 2015 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: What caused these Martian rocks to be layered? The leading hypothesis is an ancient Martian lake that kept evaporating and refilling over 10 million years -- but has now remained dry and empty of water for billions of years. The featured image, taken last November by the robotic Curiosity rover, shows one-meter wide Whale Rock which is part of the Pahrump Hills outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp. Also evident in the image is cross-bedding -- rock with angled layers -- which were likely facilitated by waves of sand. Curiosity continues to find many layered rocks like this as it continues to roll around and up 5.5-km high Mount Sharp.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS]

[SunkenCiv]

2015 APoD Calendar

The Big One

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[Beowulf9]

Ok. We get it, there was water on Mars, lol.

Btw, notice ‘Pahrump Hills’.

Mars also had Art;)

[knarf]

OR .... shale oil ??

[left that other site]

Mount Sharp? Rather unimaginative.

I Prefer “Mount Badass” from Harvard Lampoon’s “Bored of the Rings”. LOL!

[null and void]

Mars also had Art;)

We cannot de Nye...

[Beowulf9]

Btw;

http://artbell.com/details-art-regarding-new-show/

[onedoug]

Very interesting.

Thanks for posting.

[null and void]

Thanks!

[MarineBrat]

I Prefer “Mount Badass” from Harvard Lampoon’s “Bored of the Rings”. LOL!

I thought I was the only one who ever read that. :) I still pull a few choice quotes out of that book now and then.

[al_c]

OR .... shale oil ??

And that's why there is no life or water on Mars anymore … fracking! Caused too many marsquakes. /s

[left that other site]

I loved the Elvin Heroes “Tudor and Fordor”

I read it back in High School and never forgot it. It is seared, seared into my memory!

[MrB]

seared, seared into my memory

---

Reference from 2004... ten years ago...
I wonder how many would know the reference?
I’m betting liberals would be about 3%,
conservatives about 30%.

[left that other site]

Only if they remember JenJis Khaan.

They were intimately related.

[MrB]

It, indeed, was “reminiscent of Jenjis Khan”.

[knarf]

Yabut ... if we plant a flag there and claim it ... can you imagine the ROYALTIES ?

[chimera]

Check this out. Go to “The Big One”, enlarge it, and scroll to the upper left corner which will be the rock pile resting on sloping ground. Near the top upper left, you will see a rock that looks like it has the head of a cat or a dog. Just above that, is a rock that looks like a tin can rusted through so only the top ring and sides are left. Amazing what you can see in rock shapes.

[left that other site]

Brian Williams captured jenjis khan single-handedly, in Iraq, as he watched the bodies float by.

[MarineBrat]

That books is one of my all time favorites.

In his hand he carried an ancient and trusty weapon, called by the elves a Browning semi-automatic.

[left that other site]

Was that the brave and Noble Faraslax?

It’s been a half-century. Time to read it again! :-)