Wait… That Rock Wasn’t There on Mars Just a While Ago!
There’s been an ongoing parade of weird looking rocks found on Mars courtesy of the Rover camera. But this is a little different. Mystery Rock ‘Appears’ in Front of Mars Rover : Discovery News.
In a comparison of recent photographs captured by the rover’s panoramic camera, or Pancam, on sol 3528 of the mission, only bare bedrock can be seen. But on sol 3540, a fist-sized rock had appeared (raw Pancam images can be found in the mission archive). MER scientists promptly nicknamed the object “Pinnacle Island.”
“It’s about the size of a jelly doughnut,” Squyres told Discovery News. “It was a total surprise, we were like ‘wait a second, that wasn’t there before, it can’t be right. Oh my god! It wasn’t there before!’ We were absolutely startled.”
But the rover didn’t roll over that area, so where did Pinnacle Island come from?
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