APOD: Curiosity Inspects Mt Remarkable on Mars (2014 May 07)

[APOD Robot]

Curiosity Inspects Mt Remarkable on Mars

Explanation: What has the Curiosity rover come across on Mars? Dubbed Mount Remarkable, the rolling robot has chanced upon this notable 5-meter tall mound during its continuing journey around and, eventually, up 5.5-kilometer high Mt. Sharp. Unsure of the density of the surrounding layered sandstone, the human team on Earth has instructed the car-sized rover on Mars to drill into a rock on the side of Mt. Remarkable to investigate. Quite possibly, water involved in creating the dense sandstone could have helped to support ancient life on the red planet. Mt. Sharp, the unusual central peak of Gale Crater, has a similar base-to-peak height as Earth's Mt. Everest.

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[madtom1999]

base-to-peak height --> base-to-peak ratio

[Nitpicker]

base-to-peak height --> base-to-peak ratio

I think you might be wrong about that. Not sure what a base-to-peak ratio is.

[Anthony Barreiro]

... Mt. Sharp, the unusual central peak of Gale Crater, ...

Just in case you didn't follow the "Mt. Sharp" link, the official name of that mountain is "Aeolis Mons."

[smitty]

What are scientists saying about the two rather distinct, more or less parallel "game trails" leading away from the rover's location toward Mt. Remarkable's summit?

[CURRAHEE CHRIS]

What are scientists saying about the two rather distinct, more or less parallel "game trails" leading away from the rover's location toward Mt. Remarkable's summit?

Good question- to add to that- anyone have any idea/theory as to why there is a swath of what appears to be sand running parallel near the base of mount remarkable? You see all this scraggy rock but then there is this row of very fine sand. Curious what might have led to that.

[smitty]

I'd guess that the fine sand is simply a wind-blown dune, but that's just a quick, off-the-cuff guess. The dune strikes me as less odd than the two "game trails." Will be eager to read what the experts have to say!

[neufer]

I'd guess that the fine sand is simply a wind-blown dune, but that's just a quick, off-the-cuff guess.

The dune strikes me as less odd than the two "game trails." Will be eager to read what the experts have to say!

<<Alpine transhumance is transhumance as practiced in the Alps, that is, a seasonal droving of grazing livestock between the valleys in winter and the high mountain pastures in summer (German Alpwirtschaft, Almwirtschaft from the term for "seasonal mountain pasture", Alp, Alm). Seasonal migration to high pastures is still practiced in Bavaria, Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland. In some places, cattle are taken care of by local farmer families who move to higher places. In others, this job is for herdsmen who are employees of the cooperative owning the pastures.>>

[FloridaMike]

... Not sure what a base-to-peak ratio is.

Base to peak ratios are influenced by the material composition of the feature and gravitational constant of the moon or planet it is located on.

[smitty]

Would be helpful if we could see a close-up of these disturbances. They certainly appear at first glance to be real artifacts. But if they had been here over the sort of time period dating from when something such as Alpine transhumance might have taken place wouldn't they have been washed out long ago by normal erosion, i.e., by the sort of natural shifting of terrain that brought the dune below? Just asking. I'm no expert. But I've done considerable hiking in Arizona, USA, terrain which is not unlike this, and would have taken these disturbances as some sort of game or human trails had I seen them in Arizona.

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

... Not sure what a base-to-peak ratio is.

Base to peak ratios are influenced by the material composition of the feature and gravitational constant of the moon or planet it is located on.

AKA "the angle of repose" which also happens to be part of a tale describing the historical account of efforts to discover a way to get water to our deserts to help develop the farmland. Maybe there will be a Martian sequel someday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_of_repose

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_of_Repose_(novel)

[neufer]

Explanation: Dubbed Mount Remarkable, the rolling robot has chanced upon this notable 5-meter tall mound during its continuing journey around and, eventually, up 5.5-kilometer high Mt. Sharp. Mt. Sharp, the unusual central peak of Gale Crater, has a similar base-to-peak height as Earth's Mt. Everest.

<<Reasonable base elevations for Everest (also known in Nepal as Sagarmatha ["sky-head"] and in Tibet as Chomolungma ["Holy Mother"]) range from 4,200 m on the south side to 5,200 m on the Tibetan Plateau, yielding a height above base in the range of 3.65 to 4.65 kilometer.

By this measure, Mount McKinley (native name Denali ["The High One"]), in Alaska, is taller than Everest. Despite its height above sea level of only 6,168 m, Denali sits atop a sloping plain with elevations from 300 to 900 m, yielding a height above base in the range of 5.3 to 5.9 kilometer ; a commonly quoted figure is 5.6 kilometer.>>

[Guest]

Mt. Sharp, the unusual central peak of Gale Crater, has a similar base-to-peak height as Earth's Mt. Everest

It never works well to use Everest as an example as base to peak height, since there are so many other much lower mountains with similar or greater relief (Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea being the kings since their base is well below seal level, giving them net relief of nearly 30,000 feet).

[juancho panza]

It could be argued from this photo that the "game trails" actually start from under the cap rock.

[Thomas]

Dubbed Mount Remarkable, the rolling robot has chanced upon this notable 5-meter tall mound during its continuing journey around and, eventually, up 5.5-kilometer high Mt. Sharp.

This unfortunate sentence, by way of its dangling introductory participial phrase, suggests that the robot is dubbed Mount Remarkable.

[Anthony Barreiro]

It never works well to use Everest as an example as base to peak height, since there are so many other much lower mountains with similar or greater relief (Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea being the kings since their base is well below seal level, giving them net relief of nearly 30,000 feet).

I think you meant "mean seal level", as the seals sometimes dive rather deeply in pursuit of fish.

[Psnarf]

Remarkable!
Now, where'd I put my copy of Strunk & White?
Thesae and peer-reviewed papers conform to the Chicago Manual Of Style, contrawise image blurbs.

There be space monkeys inside that mansion! Whatever you do, don't send Rover over (?) to knock on the door. We do not yet understand Martian. "Welcome" and "Do Not Disturb" appear to us equally undecipherable.

[ta152h0]

I think it is time to think " small shuttle vehicle " and drop a backhoe ( made of aluminum ) on that planet. Land it like the real shuttle did.

[LocalColor]

That we have a rover on another planet sending us photos is quite "remarkable" in itself!

Thanks APOD.

[BDanielMayfield]

I'd guess that the fine sand is simply a wind-blown dune, but that's just a quick, off-the-cuff guess.

The dune strikes me as less odd than the two "game trails." Will be eager to read what the experts have to say!

<<Alpine transhumance is transhumance as practiced in the Alps, that is, a seasonal droving of grazing livestock between the valleys in winter and the high mountain pastures in summer (German Alpwirtschaft, Almwirtschaft from the term for "seasonal mountain pasture", Alp, Alm). Seasonal migration to high pastures is still practiced in Bavaria, Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland. In some places, cattle are taken care of by local farmer families who move to higher places. In others, this job is for herdsmen who are employees of the cooperative owning the pastures.>>

(welcome back Art)

If this was any of the hundreds of hills in any Earthly desert those "trails" might be from varmints agoin' to en fro ta munch out on the only forage around, the dark shrubs you can see (with your imagination) on the sides of Mt Remarkable.

When I showed this image to my wife she immediately suggested that they were erosion from the last time it rained there. I said, "On Mars!?" But things erode very slowly on Mars, and things on the surface might stay basically unchanged for an extremely long time, and Mars once was wet ...

[Canadian Grandma]

My mind translates 5 meters as about 16 feet. Is that correct? If so ,then "Baby Remarkable" is about the size of a bungalow, and the 'game trails' are fairly narrow. I think I see another 'trickle trail' coming down from the right (as we look at it) shoulder, and ending just to the right of the end of the ridge of that nice little dune. Does any one else see it?
Joyce

[smitty]

My mind translates 5 meters as about 16 feet. Is that correct? If so ,then "Baby Remarkable" is about the size of a bungalow, and the 'game trails' are fairly narrow. I think I see another 'trickle trail' coming down from the right (as we look at it) shoulder, and ending just to the right of the end of the ridge of that nice little dune. Does any one else see it?
Joyce

I think I see what you're referring to as a trickle trail, but it's much thinner (narrower) that the two prominent ones, and oddly "straight," too. Almost could imagine it as being a seam in the image. Would like to know more about the image and especially whether it might be possible to see a "blow-up" or "close-up" of these interesting features. Can the earth-bound operators zoom in on them? That might help pin down their origin.

[alter-ego]

base-to-peak height --> base-to-peak ratio

I think you might be wrong about that. Not sure what a base-to-peak ratio is.

Base (diameter)-to-peak height ratio is a more correct parameter description

[Nitpicker]

So, does Aeolis Mons have a similar base-diameter-to-peak-height ratio (i.e. slope) to Everest? (It seemed to me, to be in the same ballpark base-to-peak-height wise.)

[DavidLeodis]

The superb quality of images sent back from such as the Curiosity rover continues to amaze me.

Clicking on the APOD brings up a slightly wider field-of-view mosaic that has Sol 603 in its caption. It took some doing but I've been able to find that the raw images used in producing the excellent mosaic were taken on April 17 2014, which I think may be that of Sol 603 of Curiosity's tour of Mars based on Earth time though I'm by no means sure.