A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » Science
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

unusual pebble shape



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #21  
Old February 18th 04, 04:50 PM
Carlos Santillan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default The Little Critter at Meridiani

Nils O. Selåsdal wrote in message ...
the sand, waving its antennae at us.
Ofcourse... Then again similar stones I've seen here were
actually stones.



Fulgurites.
  #22  
Old February 19th 04, 03:05 AM
Paul Morris
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default unusual pebble shape

In article , "Icarus"
wrote:

Paul Morris wrote:

snip
right-hand image (Sol 5 navcam).

So the navcam image is just outside the range that would
reveal the "bug."


OK I know I'm being really pedantic now but... :-) The aspect
ratio for the two images is different - The rock outcrop is
significantly wider in the left hand image than in the right,
although the height is the same. Hence it seems to me that we
should expect the distance from the small white blob to the
'object' to be smaller in the right-hand image than in the left.
I think that puts it in the picture still. In fact, I've
annotated the pair of images to show how I think the faint
features in the two images correspond - go back and have a look:

http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/jr/object.html

I'm sure it's all academic anyway, since the thing didn't appear
in the hazcam images after the rover left the lander, which
suggests it probably did blow away, and it was probably only a
bit of crap from the lander anyway... :-)


You are correct about the aspect ratio. Thanks for clarifying that.

In a way, it is a relief to know the object was gone before the rover
started rolling. At least it did not get ground into the dust!

It seems a little implausible, though, that the object could have blown
away. There is no sign of dust devils at the site. With a martian atmosphere
of less than 10 millibars and a sheltered location in the crater, it doesn't
seem like the wind would be strong enough to move an object of that
size, unless it was of extremely low density.

Paul

--
Email: lastname at best dot com. No spam please.
All spam will be complained to sender's ISP.
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Variable shape expansion nozzle Alain Fournier Space Science Misc 2 November 2nd 03 01:58 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:41 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.