Curious shapes found by Curiosity on Mars

a reply to: Namdru

Yes the orientation of them all facing left, and being in a kind of line is strange, but there have been odder findings by Curiosity, so i feel that the image has not been tampered with and is a geuine photo.

i feel that the image has not been tampered with and is a geuine photo.

I was thinking these could be plant or marine animal fossils in a siliceous matrix of some kind. Water flow and/or prevailing wind would account for the similar orientation if, as per my assumption, the rock sample shown in the photo is more or less a horizontal or diagonal section of a vertically-orientated life form e.g., a plant growing upright or an acquatic plant or animal. Notice also around the (iron-rich?) "Euro" shapes are patches of slightly redder (e.g., more iron-rich) rock, which is slightly glossy in appearance, similar to petrified wood.

Vertebrate tube worms that lived in mud, perhaps?


Again, I have to confess, I (or many others) could hoax something like this with Photoshop, notwithstanding that IWTB.

wow that looks quite weird!
looks like fossilized lifeforms to me

a reply to: Namdru

I can see the redness you mention, especially on the top one and bottom two. That would mean water and oxygen reacting with iron, that tells me they must have been there tens or hundreds of millions of years if water was involved. The redness could be from Mars' dust mixed in with whatever reaction was happening at the time, and solidified so possibly not metal/rust.

But all 5 having equal shape/size, within a few centimetres/millimetres of each other and having equal erosion over that time seem very unlikely. I did think about the angle of erosion, they are all eroded on the right side, it doesnt seem like it could be water or liquid as there is no flow channel where the shapes are. Wind erosion, i cant see it being that with only half of the shapes all eroded, i'm sure they would recieve equal erosion across the whole original shape.

Photoshop? I cant see that either, i'm sure you and others could do a good job with it (care to have a go?) but i dont think NASA would do such a thing for just 5 shapes on a rock that could be put through a program on a PC that would show up as altered or tampered with. Doing that and being found out would discredit NASA completely and everything they have done in the past and into the future.

Yeah, Mars has all kinds of odd-shaped rocks lying around, I don't collect them anymore, but for a while there I was finding them all over the place. Here is a tiny selection, featuring those "C" shapes as well as others. But they won't be turning the rover around for a closer look, so these things will probably never, ever be encountered again.

a reply to: Blue Shift

I wish you would carry on collecting as you have a very good eye for detail, better than mine. But do you remember any anomilies that were so uniform and so close together? If it was one 'Euro' shape i would not have made a thread, but 5 identical on one photo? I just felt it needed pointing out as something of interest.

originally posted by: Moohide
I wish you would carry on collecting as you have a very good eye for detail, better than mine. But do you remember any anomilies that were so uniform and so close together? If it was one 'Euro' shape i would not have made a thread, but 5 identical on one photo? I just felt it needed pointing out as something of interest.

The hardest part is finding clusters, which would definitely be more indicative of life. The bottom photo I posted above has three "C"s embedded in a rock. But it's easy to forget just how close these things actually are to each other because sometimes the images are available days or weeks apart, but the rover really only moved 20 feet or so. Anyway, as I said, they're all over the place, although the rover is currently in a kind of dull area. Older images have more cool stuff in them.

originally posted by: Blue Shift
Yeah, Mars has all kinds of odd-shaped rocks lying around, I don't collect them anymore, but for a while there I was finding them all over the place. Here is a tiny selection, featuring those "C" shapes as well as others. But they won't be turning the rover around for a closer look, so these things will probably never, ever be encountered again.

D@mnit what a shame we could trade cards, I've got doubles its blasphemy what they do to us..

originally posted by: 0bserver1
D@mnit what a shame we could trade cards, I've got doubles its blasphemy what they do to us..

One of my favorite finds lately is this one from the Opportunity (!) rover:

are they here? above the small, dark area that looks strangly like it has an entrance cut out of it like a path going in? right above that are 5 oval or hex shaped spots arranged close together?

a reply to: MantheDevilsApe

crap. i cant upload pix either.

Note-

For those having issues uploading photo's here are some easy to follow instructions.

a reply to: Blue Shift

Amazing structures indeed. hangar doors in disguise eh..

Well, I've got my head wrapped around this one lately.



it seems to represent or have some similarities with this..

a reply to: Blaine91555

Sorry Blaine, thanks for the link, but i know how to upload pics, as i have done lots of times before but even with no ad block it wont let me. Might be Firefox since they changed it to Firefox Quantum. Its annoying but nothing i can do if i click uploads and says i'm using an ad block. Would love to have put pics in with my thread.

a reply to: 0bserver1

Very interesting shape you found there, its a bit like a fork. I can only think it was made like the 'Spoon'. Softer rock eroding away leaving the hard rock behind.

a reply to: Moohide

I'm sorry to hear that. I'm using the same browser though with no problems at all. I hope you can work that out

a reply to: Moohide

Then maybe using a second browser could come in handy? or just turn off the ad blocker

a reply to: Moohide

Could be but, I've seen more strange geometry in this valley I really have my doubts about. At the end, we never really know but interesting enough to show I think..

a reply to: 0bserver1

Yeah i might try Chrome as you suggest trying another browser, Firefox works for Blaine but not for me.
And like i said i'm not using an ad blocker, thats the bit i find frustrating. Will try another and see if that helps.

a reply to: Moohide
That's odd, I see at least four of those C shaped objects almost exactly the same and the shell looking thingies... hmmm... nice find.