MARS OUTCROP SOURCE OF TINY SPHERES

JPL ^ | sol 13, opportunity, mars | JPL

[FireTrack]

Sol 15 Micoscopic Images

[Indie]

IF THOSE AREN'T FOSSILS [CRINOIDS COMES TO MIND] I WILL THROW MY COMPUTER OUT THE WINDOW.

[djf]

Man, that whole freakin rock looks like it was home for some kind of biologicals! Look at the matrix!

[FireTrack]

Here is a interesting post by Dirt Boy that fits in well with what Mr. Marx has been suggesting.

Dirt Boy Post

[Frank_Discussion]

Self-Ping for Weirdness

[Indie]

PING #262...your opinion?

[doodad]

I going to hold back for the spectral analysis. It looks very sedimentary, but go look back at that botyroidal hematite I posted. It can do the same thing. The texture of the layers sure is fine.

[FireTrack]

Damn odd if you ask me! I kept seeing indications that some of these had stems but never found a good photo until now. Wind or something has removed the soil away from the base of this one. I wish they would roll some over using the arm to get a view of the underside. Especially one like this!

[doodad]

It happens.

[Don Joe]

That looks like a section of a fungus "fairy ring".

[Don Joe]

The things that present questions in my mind are still the great uniformity of the spheres (though some additional mechanism may be at work here to sort them), the even dispersal, and ability to cling to precarious perches.

Also, quite a few of them (maybe all, who knows?) have a "peach line" going across one "pole" end to the other. If it was something that was only one one or two of them -- and they had other random features, I'd just write it off as "noise", but they're so consistent that there must be a reason for them to be there. What it is, though, I've no idea.