Hum Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 A strange picture of odd, spherical rock formations on Mars from NASA's Opportunity rover has scientists scratching their heads over what exactly they're looking at. The new Mars photo by Opportunity shows a close-up of a rock outcrop called Kirkwood covered in blister-like bumps that mission scientists can't yet explain. At first blush, the formations appear similar to so-called Martian "blueberries" ? iron-rich spherical formations first seen by Opportunity in 2004 ? but they actually differ in several key ways, scientist said. "This is one of the most extraordinary pictures from the whole mission," said rover mission principal investigator Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., in a statement. "Kirkwood is chock full of a dense accumulation of these small spherical objects. Of course, we immediately thought of the blueberries, but this is something different. We never have seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on Mars." The new photo by Opportunity is actually a mosaic of four images taken by a microscope-like imager on its robotic arm, and then stitched together like puzzle pieces by scientists on Earth. more Tomoko 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyfrog Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Tomoko, Crisp, StevenJ and 3 others 6 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Volcanic rock or some other type of rock, looks like regular plain reproved rock to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Ball bearings fell out of the Martian flying saucers. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kriz Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 These pictures are too intriguing.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 ^ They should be color pics. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenJ Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Volcanic rock or some other type of rock, looks like regular plain reproved rock to me. That's why you don't work for NASA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted September 16, 2012 Member Share Posted September 16, 2012 If it puzzles the experts I sure wouldn't have a clue as to what it is. Very interesting, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Here Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Hmm, maybe Mars has chicken pox. But seriously, it is strange whatever they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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