Mars Images - Anomalies
NASA (actually JPL) is currently publishing
raw images from Mars.
Because many of these images form left-right stereo pairs,
I developed
a viewer
to simplify seeing these in 3D.
As a result, I've spent a fair amount of time looking at
the images.
Basically, there are 3 types of anomalies discussed on this page
- What is That? - a number of rocks looks like fossils
- Missing images - the program I wrote saves the names of some of the images,
but 2 weeks later, some images are no longer available on the web.
- Anomalies acknowledged by JPL
Fossils
Ok, I'm not saying that theses are really fossils,
but they are definitely worth more pictures.
Missing Images
Due to how my software works, the names of some of the images
on the JPL web site
are recorded in local configuration files ...
and now some of those images are missing (I think).
(In operation, I copy the url's from the JPL web site and paste them into my software.
I do NOT type the url's, therefore, missing images are not
just typing errors on my part.)
So far, except that they are missing, I don't know of anything
unusual about the missing images -
no fossils, no foot prints, nothing that should be hidden.
2/p/009/2P128947060EFF0327P2381L2M1.JPG
2/p/009/2P128947060EFF0327P2381R2M1.JPG
| These are both missing, in my program, they are identified as
Spirit - Panoramic Camera - Sol 009 - 4
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JPL has acknowledged these
These are interesting anomalies that JPL acknowledges.
BTW, I think that the official explanations are reasonable.
- "bunny rabbit" / "plant"
- This is an obvious 3D object that cast a shadow.
In the closeup stereo view, this object is obviously lying on the surface.
The official explanation is that this was probably a piece of
an airbag - ie, it is something we brought, not something
that is a part of Mars.
At any rate, the object is no longer visible in recent photos.
Image (Stereo pair)
Article
- Fibers
- The Opportunity Microscopic Imager has photographed fibers.
One of these is obviously real because it is in focus in some images and
out of focus in others. Some possibilities are, mineral fibers
(bisolite, millerite, and the like), hair (contamination from the lander),
synthetic fiber from the lander. The way it is just sitting on the surface
indicates that it probably fell off the rover.
The "other fibers" that go beneath the soil are not quite so obvious
and might be just image artifacts.
Main Image
Related Images
Article
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Author: Robert Clemenzi -
clemenzi@cpcug.org