Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2001 November 27
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.

Ancient Layered Rocks on Mars
Credit: Malin Space Science Systems, MOC, MGS, JPL, NASA

Explanation: Is this a picture of Mars or Earth? Oddly enough, it is a picture of Mars. What may appear to some as a terrestrial coastline is in fact a formation of ancient layered rocks and wind-blown sand on Mars. The above-pictured region spans about three kilometres in Schiaparelli Crater. What created the layers of sediment is still a topic of research. Viable hypotheses include ancient epochs of deposit either from running water or wind-blown sand. Winds and sandstorms have smoothed and eroded the structures more recently. The "water" that appears near the bottom is actually dark coloured sand. The image was taken with the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft that has now returned over 100,000 images.

News: APOD is now also available in Spanish.
Tomorrow's picture: Distant Fog


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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
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& Michigan Tech. U.