April 4, 2008
Even the most precise clock in the world cannot measure how unlikely your existence really is.
Layers in Aureum Chaos
Birthday · April 4, 2008
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published April 4, 2008. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
At first glance these undulating shapes in shades of blue might look like waves on an ocean. Seen here in a false-color image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera, they are actually layered rock outcrops found in Aureum Chaos. The larger Aureum Chaos region is a chaotic jumble of eroded terrain in the eastern part of Mars' immense canyon Valles Marineris. Distinct layers composing these outcrops could have been laid down by dust or volcanic ash settling from the atmosphere, sand carried by martian winds, or sediments deposited on the floor of an ancient lake. This close-up view of the otherwise red planet spans about 4 kilometers, a distance you might walk over flat ground in less than an hour.