This is a gorgeous photograph of a geological formation -- the burnished browns are crisp, and blue shadows pool up between each ridge to highlight the sinuous curves in each layer of stone. What new Ansel Adams has given us this poignant glimpse into the abstract majesty of nature? A robot. And the rocks you're looking at? They're on Mars.
Taken in December by a robot-operated high-resolution camera inside the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), this is an image of tectonic fractures in an approximately one-kilometer wide expanse of the Candor Chasma region of Valles Marineris. More remarkable is that this image, among many others taken by the MRO, reveals for a certainty that water and probably other liquids once flowed freely on the red planet. The ridge-like shapes you see here, combined with the erosion patterns around them, are indicative of water flows.
I can't decide what's more cool: water on Mars, or robot photographers making art in space. You can consume more robot space art at NASA's excellent Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter information page.
