Starship Asterisk*

by **jeffab** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:22 pm

In reply to drrock

You mean the rock core or the coating? I don't think there's much doubt that core is rock, what kind is in doubt, but since it appears to be hexagonal, basalt would be almost certain were it not for the fact that it's lighter that almost every other rock around it. The white/really light stuff is something else. Ice (CO2 or H2O) has been suggested, but it would be really odd to have ice under a rock sitting in an environment with no other occurrences in sight.

Based on my limited knowledge from my undergrad geology studies so far, I would say that this is the most likely/accurate interpretation of this particular rock. The most fascinating thing that jumped out at me when I saw the pic on APOD was that the center, darker rock appears to show crystal faces. I agree that hexagonal is the most likely, but the exact symmetry is hard to determine without additional photo angles.

If this is the case, the center rock is likely igneous... the result of very slow cooling of relatively deep magma. The light, encasing material is obviously less resistant to weathering but it's difficult to say exactly what the material is, though it seems likely not to be either ice or solid CO2. As others mentioned, it could be volcanic ash or some sedimentary material that accumulated around the center rock long after the volcanism stopped.

I hope that this rock will be visited in depth in future studies of the rover photos, as it does seem to be unique as well as an important indicator of geologic processes on Mars.

by **makc** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:15 am

I just noticed this thing become an APOD.

by **BMAONE23** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:44 pm

This is an excellent exapmle of a possible fossil on Mars. The Trilobite like imprint is, in my opinion, remarkable. (See the first 3 or 4 images on the page.) The others (squid, etc.) on the website are more subjective.
http://www.xenotechresearch.com/marsx.htm

by **Aqua** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:37 pm

Just when yah think Mars Rocks couldn't get any stranger..... there's today's (01.30.05 - Sol 736) Spirit microscopic image(s) of one of the 'bubbly' looking dark coloured stones near the rover.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ ... 56M2M1.JPG

This stone, like the other 'pitted looking' dark coloured stones in the area 'shot thru' by volcanic gases? or perhaps have been exposed to acidic erosion(s)? OR, might they be meteor fragments?

Any MER team members out there with answers?

by **borg** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:36 pm

It is a fossilised Martian skull. The vertebral sheath articulation is clearly visible. We studied their anatomy a long time ago.

by **kovil** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 9:07 pm

The one o'clock rock ! looks to have a color change, but the 9 o'clock rock looks like light reflection of some kind, likewise the 8:30 rock.

The rock halfway below the one o'clock rock and the bottom of the picture frame in your zoom in; looks to have the color change across the uniformly illuminated top, and thusly is a best candidate for no lighting tricks.

Lots of rocks here have a surface difference!!

Good site for investigation.

Are they grinding samples for analysis?

**Watch out for that Crocodile Rock just outside the photo frame !

by **drrocks** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:57 pm

Could certainly be fragments.

The more and more I play with it, looks like the white stuff is ablating on the right side, if not accumulating at least not ablating so fast on the left side. Wind? Other indicators aren't that convincing.

What do I do re the "inaccessible" thing? What's BBCode? Sorry for the dumb newbie questions..... Long as I've been on the 'net (since it was before the 'net!) nothing should be new, but something always is![/quote]

by **makc** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 7:27 am

astroton wrote:
drrocks wrote:why is it all alone?
The two toned stone is not alone...Here is the link to my zoom in....look at pic 1.

Since your link says "inaccessible", here's my zoom in.

by **nstahl** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 5:13 am

So it really hasn't occurred to any of you that this is either Martian poop or just possibly a Martian egg (with Deja Thoris standing, spear in hand, behind Spirit in case of threatening activity)?

by **S. Bilderback** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:44 am

I can guarantee that the light portion is not H2O or CO2, neither one would last more than a few hours, but the dark portion is definitely basaltic. The light portion must be either the bedrock salts or a volcanic ash, it depends on where the rock originated from - how and how far did it travel to find its present location.

by **astroton** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:38 am

Welcome to the forum DrRocks. Astronomy is science where we are just breaking grounds out side our gardens.

The rock that I refer to is not very far from the rock in the discussion. Without even zomming in you can make out the shape and make up to be very nearly to the one being discussed. Funnily enough where the coating on the main rock is white this one has black. Unless, it's refrection or shadow or something of the sort causing the effect.

by **drrocks** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:26 am

S. Bilderback wrote:My question is now; are we going to find out if the light tone is basaltic or a precipitate?

You mean the rock core or the coating? I don't think there's much doubt that core is rock, what kind is in doubt, but since it appears to be hexagonal, basalt would be almost certain were it not for the fact that it's lighter that almost every other rock around it. The white/really light stuff is something else. Ice (CO2 or H2O) has been suggested, but it would be really odd to have ice under a rock sitting in an environment with no other occurrences in sight.

Astronton (sorry if I got that wrong, I'm new here and don't know if I can go back to more than 1 post in replying) suggested that there are other such rocks and indeed blowing the scene up to pixelated chaos there are a few that may be chunks of the faceted material, although most could also be sun-angle phenomena.

I'm no Mars geologist in spite of teenage dreams 40+ years ago, just a garden variety Earth one, so all I gotta say is that from all the Mars pics I've seen this thing is unique.

by **S. Bilderback** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:40 am

My question is now; are we going to find out if the light tone is basaltic or a precipitate?

by **astroton** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:35 am

drrocks wrote:

What's particularly troubling though is why is it all alone? One would expect at least a few nearby similar fragments, of the faceted rock or the caliche (well there may be small fragments in the soil all over the place, but no bigger ones?), but there appear to be none.

Curious indeed!

This is in ref to the original post by S.B.... & the post by drrocks.... The two toned stone is not alone. Look past it on left and zoome in closer. There is another such rock but this time covered in black shell kinda material.

Here is the link to my zoom in....look at pic 1.

http://in.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/astrot ... ?.dir=94e9

by **drrocks** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:12 am

My gawd.....it's the Flying Nun's hat!!!!!!!!!

A little more seriously, if it's around Moab, Utah, where we all know these pics are taken, I'd say the response abt the mastadon tooth might not be too far off, except it would be a dinosaur tooth eroded from those apparenty-sedimentary outcrops on the hillside in the background. Or maybe a piece of a disintegrating RV.....

Ok, now seriously seriously, I've been observing desert rocks, including those in my own back yard, for over 30 years, and have never seen anything quite like this. The facets on the interior chunk are particularly puzzling. About the only thing that comes to mind is a weathered chunk of columnar basalt that ended up in a caliche-forming environment and then left as a fragment or moved somehow to this location, the caliche (white) slowly eroding away. Caliche-covered lava boulders in my neighborhood aren't totally dissimilar. The core rock is light for basalt, however, especially compared to most of the other rocks.

What's particularly troubling though is why is it all alone? One would expect at least a few nearby similar fragments, of the faceted rock or the caliche (well there may be small fragments in the soil all over the place, but no bigger ones?), but there appear to be none.

Curious indeed!

by **Skeptic** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:50 pm

Back in Jan 2004, I zoomed in on this image (8.05 MB):
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ ... A04995.jpg

What I found was this rock:
http://members.cox.net/skeptical/Mars.shtml

I tried sending the link to various experts who might know, but never got any replies. I've never seen any reference to it.

Any ideas?

Perhaps others could do a better job of enhancing the image.

by **Bad Buoys** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:29 pm

Neutrinoman wrote:It looks to me like it is a "rock" that was once covered in ice. The ice is slowly sublimating giving us the two tone view.

Yes, though I didn't know whether the rock arrived with its icy covering or whether it was a reminant of a winter ice drift. Though there appear to be ice patches further afield I guess you're right. None of the nearby rocks have "ice drifts" and besides, aren't the rovers closer to the equator to take advantage of the stronger sunlight?

So, yes. I agree that it is most likely a recently arrived meteorite or comet core material. We could tell how long ago if the rover will pass back by in a month or so to see how fast the sublimation proceeds.

by **Neutrinoman** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 7:56 pm

It looks to me like it is a "rock" that was once covered in ice. The ice is slowly sublimating giving us the two tone view.

by **kovil** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:37 pm

Hi, This is my first post, so pardon my disorientation please.

Where does one begin;

The initial thought that hit me was this rock was ejected from Olympus Mons and garnered its evaporative deposite during re-entry from above the then Mars atmosphere. Whatever was in the atmosphere condensed on the rock as it descended; after having cooled off in space it was cold on descent and thus got its coating. It must have had little rotation as the deposits follow an airflow over the rock nicely from its current bottom which is sitting on the ground.

Another aspect of it is; the surface indicates a different composition than the black lava ejecta from local volcanoes lying most everywhere else in the photo. If not chemically different, then process different, in that it is slow cooled with no gas bubbles, suggesting to me it is from deeper in the mantle, thus the Olympus Mons theory of origin.

I also suspect the Mons eruption, or formation by asteroid impact that triggered a deep release of material; resulted in a significant loss of the Martian atmosphere by its shock waves and eruption violence, and maybe was the tipping point in how Mars lost so much of its water and atmosphere.

We need more data. Any chance of having the Rover's grinder arm get some of that deposit material and analyze it.

by **astroton** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:50 am

astroton wrote:My post is regarding that rock like thing little farther from rover. It is possibly a rock wethered by wind and rain. That's why it looks smooth. The sun rays seem to play a part as well.

OOOOPS!!!!! no rain. I meant past history of water....

by **astroton** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:49 am

My post is regarding that rock like thing little farther from rover. It is possibly a rock wethered by wind and rain. That's why it looks smooth. The sun rays seem to play a part as well.

by **edmar** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:52 am

astroton wrote:If you zoom in closely, on the right side of the rover there is cylindrical object like an empty coke tin. What is that? Is that a rock? Something ejected out of rover?

isn't that a combination of lens spherical aberation, sun from the rear difraction and remnants of the stitching software.

by **astroton** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:54 am

S. Bilderback, the picture you posted inspired me to look at some of the Mars pics closley. Looks like Mars terrain is full of rocks - explained/unexplained. Eyes of the rovers may not be enough.

This picture originally appeared on APOD on 17th May 2005.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050517.html

If you zoom in closely, on the right side of the rover there is cylindrical object like an empty coke tin. What is that? Is that a rock? Something ejected out of rover?

Link below,

http://in.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/astrot ... /my_photos

by **astroton** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 1:56 am

S. Bilderback wrote:
Look at this link, What's the silver flower like thing?
That is the residual marks from multiple attacks from the rover's abrasion tool.

How silly of me to ask that question. Thanks Bilderback....

Since then I have explored net for strange Mars Rock Pictures and found this one being debated. Is it authantic?

http://www.rense.com/general48/stransge.htm

by **Aqua** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 1:43 am

Lets hope the MER team takes a closer look at that rock!~

And THIS feature, seen just over the next ridge in this image...

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ ... 05L0M1.JPG

Starship Asterisk*

Mars Rocks! (now APOD 26/01/2006)

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Expand view Topic review: Mars Rocks! (now APOD 26/01/2006)

revisiting the original posted rock

Martian Object

Re: Two Tone Rock

Two Tone Rock

Two Tone Rock