Another Strange object in MER photo

This image is from Spirit :: Panoramic Camera :: Sol 014:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...9P2543R5M1.JPG

The lowermost object to the left appears to have a rectangular
'opening' in the face.

Similar images are in rows 4-6 he
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...irit_p014.html

Would appreciate anyone's thoughts regarding an explanation.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Doug

Doug Hortvet wrote:

This image is from Spirit :: Panoramic Camera :: Sol 014:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...9P2543R5M1.JPG

The lowermost object to the left appears to have a rectangular
'opening' in the face.

Similar images are in rows 4-6 he
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...irit_p014.html

Would appreciate anyone's thoughts regarding an explanation.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Doug



i dont see anything weird there.

sorry.

now, i *do* see a definite hominid skull in
the Viking 2 Lander picture.

check out APOD's August 22nd picture, Utopia on Mars.
if you download the huge jpg at

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ima...e_vik2_big.jpg

you should get a 1692x1521 pixel picture. making the
upper left corner (0,0), put your cursor at x=849 across,
y=510 down.

enlarge. lower jawbone missing. facing slightly to the
left of us. looks like a bullet hole above the left eye
socket. right socket hidden in shadow.

cant be jimmy hoffa, though, because, according to my size
estimate, this skull is about the size of australopithecus
or a home sapiens child, at best.


- nate

Doug Hortvet wrote


The lowermost object to the left appears to have a rectangular
'opening' in the face.

It also appears to have a teeny little ladder leading from the
lower right corner of the opening down to the ground...

Seriously, an inclusion in some sort of aggregate rock?

Nate,

One reply I received offered that the rectangular indication was a
shadow - however the sun is shining from the back side of this 'rock'
- and so would not be able to cast a shadow on the unlit side.

What raises my curiosity are the very straight sides and almost
perfectly square corners.

Regarding the object you mentioned - at what clock position is the
object from the left end of the canister that is in the lower right
hand portion of the screen?

Doug


On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 02:48:41 -0400, Nate Smith
wrote:

Doug Hortvet wrote:

This image is from Spirit :: Panoramic Camera :: Sol 014:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...9P2543R5M1.JPG

The lowermost object to the left appears to have a rectangular
'opening' in the face.

Similar images are in rows 4-6 he
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...irit_p014.html

Would appreciate anyone's thoughts regarding an explanation.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Doug



i dont see anything weird there.

sorry.

now, i *do* see a definite hominid skull in
the Viking 2 Lander picture.

check out APOD's August 22nd picture, Utopia on Mars.
if you download the huge jpg at

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ima...e_vik2_big.jpg

you should get a 1692x1521 pixel picture. making the
upper left corner (0,0), put your cursor at x=849 across,
y=510 down.

enlarge. lower jawbone missing. facing slightly to the
left of us. looks like a bullet hole above the left eye
socket. right socket hidden in shadow.

cant be jimmy hoffa, though, because, according to my size
estimate, this skull is about the size of australopithecus
or a home sapiens child, at best.


- nate

In article , says...
Nate,

One reply I received offered that the rectangular indication was a
shadow - however the sun is shining from the back side of this 'rock'
- and so would not be able to cast a shadow on the unlit side.

What raises my curiosity are the very straight sides and almost
perfectly square corners.

Regarding the object you mentioned - at what clock position is the
object from the left end of the canister that is in the lower right
hand portion of the screen?


Start at the trench, left of the canister, go to the rock about one trench length up, above
left at about 45 deg is a small thing that looks like a skull.

Doug Hortvet wrote in message . ..

One reply I received offered that the rectangular indication was a
shadow - however the sun is shining from the back side of this 'rock'
- and so would not be able to cast a shadow on the unlit side.

I agree it's not a shadow. However, rocks are known for their mottled
colorations. This rock only needed to form adjacent to some darker
material. Depending on the contrast settings of the camera, it would
easily come out looking black

What raises my curiosity are the very straight sides and almost
perfectly square corners.

Perfectly square is an exaggeration. It's a rough polygon. You'll find
much more regular-shaped stones at the "Giant's Causeway" in Ireland.
In fact, in the rubble around the base of the causeway, you'll find
much more regular rocks than the one in that picture.

http://www.angelfire.com/wi/shamrock...ages/giant.jpg

Also, did my last reply to this thread ever show up? Either Google's
not displaying my posts or a lot of them are not getting through
moderation.

Mike Miller, MatE

Mike,

Thank you for the reply and comments.

I very much wish I could view the image at higher magnification without loss of resolution
- or that the MER would acquire a closer image.

In looking at the image again - I agree that the black rectangular area is not a perfect a
perfect square - although it closely approximates one.

Although I am not even an amateur rock guy, perhaps just more than casually curious - that
such an indication on a fracture surface is most interesting - how can this occur
naturally?

Also, the demarcation between the face adjacent areas of gray and black appears rather
sharp - not blended. A better resolution image at closer range would remove any doubt
about what is being observed.

The following is the first post to this thread from you - at least that I have seen.

Not sure why other posts would have been blocked - I appreciate your thoughtful response
and look forward to your additional comments.

Best,

Doug

"Douglas R. Hortvet, Jr." wrote in message . ..

Although I am not even an amateur rock guy, perhaps just more than casually curious - that
such an indication on a fracture surface is most interesting - how can this occur
naturally?

It might be interesting, but it's very common. Rocks are often very
mixed, heterogenous materials. They have all sorts of growths,
inclusions, etc. in their mixes. Three possible explanations:

1) The rock formed with an inclusion of some other material, like a
nugget of basalt trapped in sedimentary or volcanic rock.

2) The black area is the result of chemical processes in the rock,
some segregation or post-formation reactions (like the way a geode
forms: crystals growing in rock).

3) The rock formed adjacent to another layer of different rock (like
sedimentary rock growing on granite) and the rock fractured off along
that flat surface. It mostly, but not entirely, separated from the
other rock. A little smear (the black patch) remained on the rock.

Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

"Douglas R. Hortvet, Jr." wrote in message . ..

Although I am not even an amateur rock guy,
perhaps just more than casually curious - that
such an indication on a fracture surface is
most interesting - how can this occur
naturally?

It might be interesting, but it's very common. Rocks are often very
mixed, heterogenous materials. They have all sorts of growths,
inclusions, etc. in their mixes. Three possible explanations:

1) The rock formed with an inclusion of some other material, like a
nugget of basalt trapped in sedimentary or volcanic rock.

2) The black area is the result of chemical processes in the rock,
some segregation or post-formation reactions (like the way a geode
forms: crystals growing in rock).

3) The rock formed adjacent to another layer of different rock (like
sedimentary rock growing on granite) and the rock fractured off along
that flat surface. It mostly, but not entirely, separated from the
other rock. A little smear (the black patch) remained on the rock.

Mike Miller, Materials Engineer