Gale (crater)

Gale

Mount Sharp rises from the middle of the crater - the green dot marks the Curiosity rover landing site in Aeolis Palus (click the image to expand, the dot is barely visible at this scale.) North is down in this image.
Planet	Mars
Coordinates	5°24′S 137°48′E / 5.4°S 137.8°E / -5.4; 137.8
Quadrangle	Aeolis
Diameter	154 km (96 mi)[1]
Eponym	Walter Frederick Gale

Gale is a crater, and probable dry lake, at 5°24′S 137°48′E / 5.4°S 137.8°E / -5.4; 137.8 in the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle on Mars.^[2] It is 154 km (96 mi) in diameter^[1] and estimated to be about 3.5–3.8 billion years old.^[3] The crater was named after Walter Frederick Gale, an amateur astronomer from Sydney, Australia, who observed Mars in the late 19th century.^[4] Mount Sharp is a mountain in the center of Gale and rises 5.5 km (18,000 ft) high.^[5][6] Aeolis Palus is the plain between the northern wall of Gale and the northern foothills of Aeolis Mons.^[5][6] Peace Vallis,^[7] a nearby outflow channel, 'flows' down from the hills to the Aeolis Palus below and seems to have been carved by flowing water.^[8][9][10] Several lines of evidence suggest that a lake existed inside Gale shortly after the formation of the crater.^[11]

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity, of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, landed in "Yellowknife" Quad 51^{[12][13][14][15]} of Aeolis Palus in Gale at 05:32 UTC August 6, 2012.^[16] NASA named the landing location Bradbury Landing on August 22, 2012.^[17] Curiosity is exploring Aeolis Mons and surrounding areas.