Curious fossil-like artifact on Mars

If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil,
others are skeptical.

Can anyone think of a way to enhance the image to better discern its
origin?

Could NASA be convinced to send Spirit back for a close-up?

JRU

wrote:
If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil,
others are skeptical.

The patterns you seem to describe are also shown across other parts of
the image. Looks to be nothing more than underlying stone or large
rounded grains as are already being recently investigated by the rovers.

The image also shows the effects of jpg compression. The very high
contrast also suggests that it has been unnaturally 'enhanced'.


Can anyone think of a way to enhance the image to better discern its
origin?

You could try loading it up in GIMP or Photoshop or whatever and play
further with the gamma, contrast, filtering or whatever.


Could NASA be convinced to send Spirit back for a close-up?

Possibly, if you can give a significant proposal backed up with reasoned
evidence that can override their existing high priorities for making
best use of the rover's desperately short life.


Investigate further and see if you can convince the group first.

Regards,
Martin


--
---------- Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today.
- Martin - Teach him how to fish and he won't bother you for weeks!
- 53N 1W - - Anon
----------

wrote:
If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil,
others are skeptical.

The patterns you seem to describe are also shown across other parts of
the image. Looks to be nothing more than underlying stone or large
rounded grains as are already being recently investigated by the rovers.

The image also shows the effects of jpg compression. The very high
contrast also suggests that it has been unnaturally 'enhanced'.


Can anyone think of a way to enhance the image to better discern its
origin?

You could try loading it up in GIMP or Photoshop or whatever and play
further with the gamma, contrast, filtering or whatever.


Could NASA be convinced to send Spirit back for a close-up?

Possibly, if you can give a significant proposal backed up with reasoned
evidence that can override their existing high priorities for making
best use of the rover's desperately short life.


Investigate further and see if you can convince the group first.

Regards,
Martin


--
---------- Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today.
- Martin - Teach him how to fish and he won't bother you for weeks!
- 53N 1W - - Anon
----------

In message ,
wrote:

If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

I don't see anything that looks at all fossil like. Can you give more
precise directions?

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil,
others are skeptical.

Can anyone think of a way to enhance the image to better discern its
origin?

Try to find the raw images and see if there's a spectrograph of the
same patch.

ould NASA be convinced to send Spirit back for a close-up?

If you can make a good case for it being a possible fossil, anything's
could happen. Better be quick though, they're planning to send Spirit
on a long-range drive in a few days, and they'll be much less likely
to retrace a hundred yards than a few feet.

Stumpy.
--
R.G. "Stumpy" Marsh Timaru, New Zealand
http://marsh.orcon.net.nz/ S@H 500WU ret.

In message ,
wrote:

If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

I don't see anything that looks at all fossil like. Can you give more
precise directions?

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil,
others are skeptical.

Can anyone think of a way to enhance the image to better discern its
origin?

Try to find the raw images and see if there's a spectrograph of the
same patch.

ould NASA be convinced to send Spirit back for a close-up?

If you can make a good case for it being a possible fossil, anything's
could happen. Better be quick though, they're planning to send Spirit
on a long-range drive in a few days, and they'll be much less likely
to retrace a hundred yards than a few feet.

Stumpy.
--
R.G. "Stumpy" Marsh Timaru, New Zealand
http://marsh.orcon.net.nz/ S@H 500WU ret.

junekis wrote:

If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil, others
are skeptical.

I see what you are talking about. I also agree with Martin, that similar
effects can be seen elsewhere in the same picture. The area to the left of
the large black rock in the center of the photo has several areas of
regularly spaced contrast and texture changes. It looks to me like they
are wind ripple produced by the interaction of wind and different sized
grains of sand.

--
Tony Sivori

junekis wrote:

If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil, others
are skeptical.

I see what you are talking about. I also agree with Martin, that similar
effects can be seen elsewhere in the same picture. The area to the left of
the large black rock in the center of the photo has several areas of
regularly spaced contrast and texture changes. It looks to me like they
are wind ripple produced by the interaction of wind and different sized
grains of sand.

--
Tony Sivori

wrote:
If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil,
others are skeptical.

Can anyone think of a way to enhance the image to better discern its
origin?

Could NASA be convinced to send Spirit back for a close-up?

I am aware of the principle of paleontology that all white dots are
fossils but those do not appear to be the correct shade of white.

Could you be more explicite?

--
"And that's the news for tonight. In a moment we
will return with previews of tommorow's news."
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3000

wrote:
If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil,
others are skeptical.

Can anyone think of a way to enhance the image to better discern its
origin?

Could NASA be convinced to send Spirit back for a close-up?

I am aware of the principle of paleontology that all white dots are
fossils but those do not appear to be the correct shade of white.

Could you be more explicite?

--
"And that's the news for tonight. In a moment we
will return with previews of tommorow's news."
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3000

Here is a close-up. -
http://images.fok.nl/upload/schedelfeaturemars.jpg
From the shades you can deduct it's peculiar form.
Can't believe they would ignore it.

There are actually some more strangly colored (blueish/whitish)
features in the same area that stand out from the rest of the picture.
Maybe it are remains of the mission's landing itself?
- http://images.fok.nl/upload/mars_fossils.jpg (at the right)

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 16:21:56 -0500, Tony Sivori
wrote:

junekis wrote:

If you look at the image at
http://www.lyle.org/mars/oldmars/marstrue.jpg

in the lower right quadrant, just below the middle of the airbag drag
marks, there is a series of oddly regular pairs of white dots in the
martian soil

Some people I have shown this to agree that it might be a fossil, others
are skeptical.

I see what you are talking about. I also agree with Martin, that similar
effects can be seen elsewhere in the same picture. The area to the left of
the large black rock in the center of the photo has several areas of
regularly spaced contrast and texture changes. It looks to me like they
are wind ripple produced by the interaction of wind and different sized
grains of sand.

--
Tony Sivori