meteor in Mars sky?sol 283

Hi all

I was browsing through the Curiosity pics and saw what looks like a meteor in the Martian sky. im not sure but pretty cool if it is

sry if this has been covered but are those other objects on the left moons?

heres the link if you blow it up to 400% its on the top left
mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

It does appear to be a Mars UFO....nice scratch,I mean catch..Is there any more shot's of it?

If that thing was moving that might be the only shot. It looks like a "thing in the sky" at 400%. But, what? Keep looking for more!

Why is it black and white? and I dont believe that to be mars, NASA like many government agencies have clearance lvls, which we do not posses.

reply to post by goou111


Can't be a meteor because it has a tail.

If I remember correctly Mars has no atmosphere therefore there would be no tail.

I stand corrected . Yes, Mars does have an atmosphere. The Martian atmosphere contains about 95.3% carbon dioxide (CO2) and 2.7% nitrogen, with the remainder a mixture of other gases. However, it is a very thin atmosphere, roughly 100 times less dense than Earth's atmosphere. Note: If Mars did not have an atmosphere images taken from the surface of Mars (like the one to the right) would show a black sky, even during the day.

But I don't think it can burn.

reply to post by Diisenchanted


Mars does have an atmosphere...a thin one by all accounts, but it does have one.

Which is handy, as all our Mars probes that use large parachutes to slow their path through the atmosphere would just plough into the surface without slowing down at all!

The Martian atmosphere is composed of CO2, N, Ar, O2, H2O.

ETA; Just had a look at the image close up...there are two light coloured point light sources in the sky, and the dark streak in the mottled, thin clouds.

If the streak and the light points appear in previous and subsequent images, i'd say dust and debris on the camera...if not...who knows.

I think something on the camera lens (a scratch or a piece of debris), as it doesn't appear on the paired image from the other hazcam: mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

Here are the two images: mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

A meteor trail would have been white, not black.

wildespace is spot on

Originally posted by Diisenchanted
reply to post by goou111

 

Can't be a meteor because it has a tail.

If I remember correctly Mars has no atmosphere therefore there would be no tail.

I stand corrected . Yes, Mars does have an atmosphere. The Martian atmosphere contains about 95.3% carbon dioxide (CO2) and 2.7% nitrogen, with the remainder a mixture of other gases. However, it is a very thin atmosphere, roughly 100 times less dense than Earth's atmosphere. Note: If Mars did not have an atmosphere images taken from the surface of Mars (like the one to the right) would show a black sky, even during the day.

But I don't think it can burn.

Meteors in Earth's atmosphere don't burn either - they emit light by ionizing the gases in our atmosphere, which results in a plasma cloud around the meteor that glows, which is why you can see a meteor and it's tail (if present).

It's almost impossible to start a fire on the summit of Mount Everest due to the lack of oxygen, so meteors that are many 10's of km above the ground stand no chance.

Since a meteor's tail is made from ionized gases, if the atmosphere the meteoroid has entered is thin (ie on Mars) there is not going to be enough plasma for a tail to be visible.

It's also worth noting that most photographs of meteors are long exposure photographs, and because of this they do not show tails - the meteor itself "over-writes" the tail since it's much brighter than any tail it might have. Short exposure photographs generally won't shows tails either unless a meteor is very big/bright or the camera is very light sensitive.