MARS OUTCROP SOURCE OF TINY SPHERES

JPL ^ | sol 13, opportunity, mars | JPL

[ZOOKER]

Naturally occurring geodes (these are cut open to display their interior). According to the website, geodes are common throughout the earth's crust but are most prevalent near volcanic outlets and in deserts. The science is not completely understood but it's generally accepted that water is required for their formation.

Geodes have a hard outer shell and crystalline interior, usually quartz. The interior can be solid crystal or hollow.

I don't contend that the spheres in the Mars photo are geodes, I'm saying that spherical shape doesn't necessarily indicate the prescence of life on Mars.

[Aracelis]

Damn! Spherulites? Ooids? Pisoliths? What I wouldn't give for a thin-section of these things. Could be volcanic glass, quartz, or calcium carbonate. If CaCO₃, then we may be looking at the bottom of an ancient body of water.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Here's a soil micrograph taken a few days earlier. It shows spheres (derived from the outcrop?) and other shapes. Could the other shapes come from other layers or are they just too small to see in the pan cam images? I wonder if the spheres at the outcrop have the one or two small holes we see here. I think they should take a survey of these forms over a much larger area and see how many groups the shapes fall into.

[doodad]

I am not betting on life either. But spheres are not easy for nature to create, and these are very uniform. I wonder how much a necklace made of them would go for?

[FireTrack]

Uniform size as well.

[norton]

Is there a longer range shot of this thing?

Can someone adjust my ignorance here?

I'm not a geologist and am going into all kinds of brain pains over the two large thingies obviously being broken from one larger piece, having virtually identical patterns of cracks on their tops and, in my guesswork, not being able to get there by impact, erosion, or wind forces.

Wouldn't then need pressure and/or some sort of noteworthy ground movement to act that way?

[Fitzcarraldo]

What I wouldn't give for a thin-section of these things.

I think I see some spheres that have been split in half because they are round and don't exhibit the "limb darkening" of a full sphere...

[In_25_words_or_less]

Ooo I can't wait for the late night talk radio about how this is proof of alien machine ball bearing technology . . .

[FireTrack]

Great obsevation there. I haven't seen any mention on any of NASA's sites. You?

[doodad]

I think I see some spheres that have been split in half

The bright white ones? I was wondering the same thing.

[Fitzcarraldo]

At the NASA news conference yesterday the panel of Opportunity scientists was conspicuously absent, they just trotted the mission engineer to say "we drove 3 meters", etc.

[Fitzcarraldo]

two large thingies obviously being broken from one larger piece, having virtually identical patterns of cracks on their tops

This is the rim of a crater, and I think the whole outcrop is upturned and cracked because of the force of the impact.

[FireTrack]

Mineral or biological in origin, I think it's one hell of an interesting find! Hopefully we'll here something from NASA soon that will offer additional speculation.

[giotto]

What about foam? Those look like styrofoam pellets to me. Some kind of gas could have bubbled up from underground maybe?

[Fitzcarraldo]

It's now sunset at Opportunity, Sol 14 - get ready for a new batch of images! The scientists haven't said much for two days and the next conference is set for Monday morning.

[Fitzcarraldo]

There seems to be broken ones laying about and they look pretty solid...they appear to be embedded in the rocks and are breaking out into the soil as the parent rocks are eroded by windblown sand and dust.

[demlosers]

FINALLY, a source for Unobtanium!

The Mars gold rush is on!

[Chris Talk]

Funny you should mention a necklace, for many of them are already bored with a hole to be strung... Others are machined with a one or more ridges round the beltline.

The same things are showing up in South African gold mines down a mile or so, and by the hundreds. The ones there are metallic, not stone.

"All nature sings, and round me rings, the music of the spheres."

"What Earth is, Mars once was. What Mars is, Earth will one day be." --QBLH

[FireTrack]

Inside the red circle on the left, appear to be spheres that have cracked in half (save and zoom for better view). Perhaps this was caused from falling from somewhere above and hitting the small ledge just above their current position. If this is the true, they must be considerably fragile.

[Fitzcarraldo]

I could be wrong but I'm noticing pairs of spheres that are so close together they might be joined.