Mount Sharp, officially Aeolis Mons, is a mountain on Mars. It forms the central peak within Gale crater and is located around 5.08°S 137.85°E, rising 5.5 km (18,000 ft) high from the valley floor. Its ID in the United States Geological Survey's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature is 15000.
The rover Curiosity landed on August 6, 2012, near the base of Aeolis Mons.
Mons Hadley, on the Moon, is 4.5 km (15,000 ft) high.
Comparison of Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons) to the sizes of three large mountains on Earth.
Rocks in "Hidden Valley" near the "Pahrump Hills" on the slopes of Aeolis Mons as viewed from Curiosity (September 11, 2014; white balanced).
Gale is a crater, and probable dry lake, at 5.4°S 137.8°E in the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle on Mars. It is 154 km (96 mi) in diameter and estimated to be about 3.5–3.8 billion years old. The crater was named after Walter Frederick Gale, an amateur astronomer from Sydney, Australia, who observed Mars in the late 19th century. Mount Sharp is a mountain in the center of Gale and rises 5.5 km (18,000 ft) high. Aeolis Palus is the plain between the northern wall of Gale and the northern foothills of Aeolis Mons. Peace Vallis, a nearby outflow channel, 'flows' down from the hills to the Aeolis Palus below and seems to have been carved by flowing water. Several lines of evidence suggest that a lake existed inside Gale shortly after the formation of the crater.
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.
Mudcracks as seen by Curiosity in Gale crater Shapes imply that water saturated the area and dried out many times; hence, the existence of water was not just a one-time, short-lived event.
Mars between day and night, with an area containing Gale crater, beginning to catch the morning light
Gale crater - surface materials (false colors; THEMIS; 2001 Mars Odyssey)