NASA Curiosity rover investigates shiny object on Mars

cnet.com ^ | November 29, 2018 10:21 AM PST | Amanda Kooser

[BenLurkin]

The target of Curiosity's curiosity is nicknamed "Little Colonsay" and it looks like a small nugget. The rover's ChemCam captured a close-up view of the object on Monday.

"The planning team thinks it might be a meteorite because it is so shiny," writes Curiosity team member Susanne Schwenzer. "But looks can deceive, and proof will only come from the chemistry."

uriosity's ChemCam is a suite of instruments that includes a camera, spectographs and a laser that helps NASA analyze the composition of Martian rocks and soil. The rover is scheduled to investigate Little Colonsay with the ChemCam to determine if it really is a meteorite.

NASA has spotted bright and shiny objects on Mars before. An odd bright piece seen by Curiosity in 2012 turned out to likely be a small plastic part from the rover. Another mystery particle from the same year was a little bit of Mars.

[BenLurkin]

Good point!

http://www.lerctr.org/~transit/healy/chicken.wav

[BenLurkin]

I don’t mind. It lets people blow off steam.

[Paul R.]

Man, I don’t know why you even bother posting science related articles here. Freepers just turn them into joke fests.

Oh, I don't know... There are a dozen or so of us here who enjoy these articles!

That said, this looks curiously like a partially melted fragment of a hull.... (Is it time to watch a battle from Babylon 5 tonight?)

[zeebee]

I’ll bet all they need is a magnet to confirm meteorite.

[mrsmith]

Media: “Shiny object! “Shiny object!”
LOL!

[Flaming Conservative]

Media: “Shiny object! “Shiny object!”
LOL!

---

If it knocks a devastating (I hope) Huber report off the news cycle, they’ll jump at it.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Martian poop.

[Robert DeLong]

Looks like a baggie containing drugs.

[Windflier]

There are a dozen or so of us here who enjoy these articles!

I enjoy them quite a bit myself, hence my melancholy comment about threads following such articles normally descending into joke fests.

I agree with your take on the photo. At first glance it does look like melted metal.

[21twelve]

I just looked it up. The object’s shape is similar to that of the island of Colonsay. I’m guessing whoever named it also has a heritage from that island.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks fieldmarshaldj. Looks like one of those foil burger wrappings the big fast food chains use.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Looks like a silver nugget from the “Lost Dutchman in Space Mine”. /sarc

[trebb]

Someone was soldering and shook the tinning glob off the iron.....

[PIF]

Notice the round column handle like protrusion in the upper left? Could be another separate object.

But like earlier Martian finds, NASA will 'examine' the object until there is little of it remaining or none at all. And then pronounce it was just a rock polished by wind and dust ... nothing to see (literally now) move along.

[Right Wing Assault]

Curiosity messaged NASA when it saw this: "Me like bling!"

[Bender2]

Re: “Looks like a space turd”

Why, Ben, are you asking... me?

Well, Bendy, we were making whooppie... out at that spot last week--

[null and void]

That is why!

[Zman]

Teddy Kennedy’s conscience.

[dragnet2]

Blow off steam? But why is it always science threads? And why would science threads cause them anxiety to the point where they need to blow off steam?

I’d guess there has to be some kind of motive which causes grown adults to be reduced to 8 year-olds making the same agonizing potty jokes and dumb quips over and over. Very odd.

[BenLurkin]

Well...at least NASA didn’t find a shiny spot on Uranus.