Um... Martian Hermit Crab?

So I'm bored and looking at Mars pictures, and suddenly I notice something odd. A Rock.....With a curved trail?!





The larger picture is bellow. I understand that the picture curves slightly, but it's still not enough to make this a straight line. This is a rock with a trail behind it. And a trail that is not straight.

www.nasa.gov...

So, what the hell is this? A hermit crab shell or something?

ALSO bear in mind in the full picture, it's heading towards a point where they discovered water I think. is it a thing looking for a drink under the dirt?
www.devicedaily.com...

[edit on 20-6-2009 by Gorman91]

[edit on 20-6-2009 by Gorman91]

there's a similar phenomena on earth:

www.answerbag.com...

It might be just a rock, but interesting nonetheless!

[edit on 20-6-2009 by bananasam]

reply to post by Gorman91


looks like a Arthiropod to me... similar to fossilized ones here on earth



why is so much of the original photo shopped out?

[edit on 20-6-2009 by cassiopeia]

Originally posted by bananasam
there's a similar phenomena on earth:

www.answerbag.com...

It might be just a rock, but interesting nonetheless!

[edit on 20-6-2009 by bananasam]

This was proven to be flooding water which only happened a few times a year.

Are you saying there is not just water on mars, but floods?

reply to post by bananasam


Good info!

my problem is that wouldn't wind erase the trail?

Also, this isn't the same land as those rocks. Those rocks on Earth seem to be in that rocky desert ground type of situation, this is a mere pebble in dust.

reply to post by breakingdradles


I sure hope so. It would not only make for a very good environment for desert life forms, but also allow the existence of plants and animals.

Per chance also it would help us survive there too. Electrolysis of these yearly floods would put lots of 02 into the air.

Originally posted by Gorman91
So I'm bored and looking at Mars pictures, and suddenly I notice something odd. A Rock.....With a curved trail?!

The larger picture is bellow. I understand that the picture curves slightly, but it's still not enough to make this a straight line. This is a rock with a trail behind it. And a trail that is not straight.

www.nasa.gov...

So, what the hell is this? A hermit crab shell or something?

ALSO bear in mind in the full picture, it's heading towards a point where they discovered water I think. is it a thing looking for a drink under the dirt?
www.devicedaily.com...

[edit on 20-6-2009 by Gorman91]

[edit on 20-6-2009 by Gorman91]

It may also be due to gravity, it could be a rock that has rollin downhill and thats why it also looks skewed...

reply to post by cassiopeia


It's the only rock out of millions there that is doing that. And I THINK this is where the Phoenix craft landed, so if anything, it's rolling uphill.

Let me just say....
That the possible explanation linked in the first reply is


-------------------------
The cause of the Dancing Rocks of Racetrack Playa has not been identified scientifically, though there are two theories which appear to have become the most commonly accepted:

1. High winds.
2. High winds and sudden formation of ice caused by inundating rain and abrupt drops in temperature.
-------------------------

I doubt that we can attribute these tracks to high wind. This trail is a bit too abnormal for that in my layman's opinion. But, other than that ... I have no clue..

Good Find!

Interesting but there are no signs of footprints... or it's a stone-like lifeform that rolls over the martian landscape...
Anyway I like these kind of stuff

reply to post by Gorman91


Yep looks up hill in the main photo aswell
kinda looks like a trilobite as well.. very strange

reply to post by ThreeDeuce


If I recall correctly, Martian winds are extremely week. A tornado there is a breeze.

but Rain on Mars would be a beautiful discovery.

reply to post by Truth hunter


Hermit crabs and shell creatures don't leave footprints due to their light weight and the trail their shell causes. Though admittedly I was looking for some kind of footprints of something bigger.

Originally posted by cassiopeia
why is so much of the original photo shopped out?

Its not the full size image is a mosaic showing 360 degrees around the Phoenix lander. That is why you see so much metal along the bottom. It also makes for distortion

Originally posted by cassiopeia
It may also be due to gravity, it could be a rock that has rollin downhill and thats why it also looks skewed...

No Phoenix landed on a flat spot.

However that area is normal frozen over so it may have moved with the thaw...

OR

The lander scoop that dug the rectangular hole may have moved the rock

OR

You found my Rat



[edit on 20-6-2009 by zorgon]

this pic from the same original seems to show a valley or channel that could have or at one point have been created by water...☮

[edit on 20-6-2009 by cassiopeia]

reply to post by Gorman91


Nice I missed that one

reply to post by cassiopeia


Well if you see the shadow behind it, It is kind of tall. So I was thinking hermit crab because it would be an ideal size for a creature like that. A trilobite is flat. Though who knows. It isn't Earth. There's nothing preventing a land-based trilobite from being tall.

reply to post by zorgon


One thing I know is that Mars does have wind enough to sweep up trails like this, so they are fresh. However, if this area is filled with ice sometimes, it may be logical to say that a creature looking for water would adapt to this area for its desert-like behavior, and it being the last location for water to exist. I'd imagine some kind of warm-blooded shell creature that can melt ice and eat it. It may have been attracted to the heat of the lander coming down, and the water under the soil that would have melted as a result. This would also explain the lack of similar actions by rocks creatures around it.

Originally posted by cassiopeia
this pic from the same original seems to show a valley or channel that could have or at one point have been created by water...

No valley its a 360 degree view pasted together from many photos

phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu...

Originally posted by Gorman91
One thing I know is that Mars does have wind enough to sweep up trails like this, so they are fresh

Yes I have a whole page on Martian dust devils

However, if this area is filled with ice sometimes, it may be logical to say that a creature looking for water would adapt to this area for its desert-like behavior, and it being the last location for water to exist.

Phoenix Lander Touches Down Near Mars's North Pole
news.nationalgeographic.com...

It landed just where the area would thaw enough to scrap samples, and as you saw the white stuff in the dig area is ice, that sublimated a few minutes later

From Phoenix

Ice Clouds in Martian Arctic



Nighttime Clouds in Martian Arctic

You can see the stars in this one