page_title: Aeolis quadrangle
section_title: Gale Crater
hierarchical_section_title: Aeolis quadrangle / Gale Crater
caption_attribution_description: English: PIA16918: Billion-Pixel View From Curiosity at Rock Nest, White-Balanced http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16918 (Raw Color Version (PIA16919)) This image is a scaled-down version of a full-circle view which combined nearly 900 images taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The Full-Res TIFF and Full-Res JPEG provided in the top right legend are smaller resolution versions of the 1.3 billion pixel version for easier browser viewing and downloading. Viewers can explore the full-circle image with pan and zoom controls at http://mars.nasa.gov/bp1/. The view is centered toward the south, with north at both ends. It shows Curiosity at the "Rocknest" site where the rover scooped up samples of windblown dust and sand. Curiosity used three cameras to take the component images on several different days between Oct. 5 and Nov. 16, 2012. This first NASA-produced gigapixel image from the surface of Mars is a mosaic using 850 frames from the telephoto camera of Curiosity's Mast Camera instrument, supplemented with 21 frames from the Mastcam's wider-angle camera and 25 black-and-white frames -- mostly of the rover itself -- from the Navigation Camera. It was produced by the Multiple-Mission Image Processing Laboratory (MIPL) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. This version of the panorama has been white-balanced to show what the scene would look like under Earth lighting conditions, which is helpful in distinguishing and recognizing materials in the rocks and soil. A raw-color version is available at PIA16919. The view shows illumination effects from variations in the time of day for pieces of the mosaic. It also shows variations in the clarity of the atmosphere due to variable dustiness during the month while the images were acquired. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory project is using Curiosity and the rover's 10 science instruments to investigate the environmental history within Gale Crater, a location where the project has found that conditions were long ago favorable for microbial life. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington and built the Navigation Camera and the rover.
context_page_description: The Aeolis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey Astrogeology Research Program. The Aeolis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-23.
  The Aeolis quadrangle covers 180° to 225° W and 0° to 30° south on Mars, and contains parts of the regions Elysium Planitia and Terra Cimmeria. A small part of the Medusae Fossae Formation lies in this quadrangle.
  The name refers to the name of a floating western island of Aiolos, the ruler of the winds. In Homer's account, Odysseus received the west wind Zephyr here and kept it in bags, but the wind got out.
  It is famous as the site of two spacecraft landings: the Spirit rover landing site in Gusev crater, and the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater.
  A large, ancient river valley, called Ma'adim Vallis, enters at the south rim of Gusev Crater, so Gusev Crater was believed to be an ancient lake bed. However, it seems that a volcanic flow covered up the lakebed sediments. Apollinaris Patera, a large volcano, lies directly north of Gusev Crater.
context_section_description: Gale Crater, in the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle, is of special interest to geologists because it contains a 2–4 km (1.2–2.5 mile) high mound of layered sedimentary rocks.  On 28 March 2012 this mound was named "Mount Sharp" by NASA in honor of Robert P. Sharp (1911–2004), a planetary scientist of early Mars missions. More recently, on 16 May 2012, Mount Sharp was officially named Aeolis Mons by the USGS and IAU.  The mound extends higher than the rim of the crater, so perhaps the layering covered an area much larger than the crater. These layers are a complex record of the past.  The rock layers probably took millions of years to be laid down within the crater, then more time to be eroded to make them visible.  The 5 km high mound is probably the thickest single succession of sedimentary rocks on Mars.  The lower formation may date from near the Noachian age, while the upper layer, separated by an erosional unconformity, may be as young as the Amazonian period. The lower formation may have formed the same time as parts of Sinus Meridiani and Mawrth Vallis.  The mound that lies in the center of Gale Crater was created by winds. Because the winds eroded the mound on one side more than another, the mound is skewed to one side, rather than being symmetrical. The upper layer may be similar to layers in Arabia Terra.  Sulfates and Iron oxides have been detected in the lower formation and anhydrous phases in the upper layer.  There is evidence that the first phase of erosion was followed by more cratering and more rock formation.  Also of interest in Gale Crater is Peace Vallis, officially named by the IAU on September 26, 2012,  which 'flows' down out of the Gale Crater hills to the Aeolis Palus below, and which seems to have been carved by flowing water. On December 9, 2013, NASA reported that, based on evidence from Curiosity studying Aeolis Palus, Gale Crater contained an ancient freshwater lake which could have been a hospitable environment for microbial life.  Gale Crater contains a number of fans and deltas that provide information about lake levels in the past.  These formations are: Pancake Delta, Western Delta, Farah Vallis delta and the Peace Vallis Fan.
caption: Curiosity's view of the Rocknest area – South is center/North at both ends; Mount Sharp at SE horizon (somewhat left-of-center);
  Glenelg at East (left-of-center); rover tracks at West (right-of-center) (November 16, 2012; white balanced) (raw color) (interactives).
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