Is it a Rock ?

Not sure if anyone has posted this before but I noticed something that looked strange in a photo from the Spirit rover. I thought I would share it and see what other people here think.

I cropped the photo to bring the size down a bit and the original can be found at
marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...

It's from the Spirit Panoramic camera, Sol 1530

Yes, it is a rock. What do you think it is?

It looks like a rock, looking like some broken piece of pottery, left behind by an ancient civilization. Since it really appears to be hollow and therefore strangely formed though, it probably comes down to what of which you’d expect to find on the surface of Mars.

Ugh are you people blinde?! It's clearly a flux capacitor!! Isn't it obvious!?

Its encased inside a giant glass dome with a massive twisting spire of gold at its peak. If you look closely you can see the Egyptian influence in the hieroglyphs more towards the entrance to the underground flying submarine base.

Originally posted by 1-Cent
Ugh are you people blinde?! It's clearly a flux capacitor!! Isn't it obvious!?

NO! Sheesh!
it's obviously a tricorder left from the last landing party

[edit on 1-6-2008 by SLAYER69]

Let's not derail this with off topic attempts at humor. OK? (And don't quit your day jobs just yet. )

Everyone has as much chance as the next person at seeing some overlooked photo, and none of us know when "the one" might turn up.

I'm not sure what to make of this, as there does appear to be a case for the curvature indicating that it COULD have been a piece of pottery, as the OP has mentioned. I would hope that we get some serious observations on this.

reply to post by Grayarea


Ok Grayarea

What do you see? I see only a rock sorry buddy

Ya I know everyone says "your just seeing faces in rocks that are not there". Looking at the "rock" in the right side of the enlargement, yes the shadows could be just making it look like a face on it, but why does the face look like it has a headband of some sort ?

If you look at the "rock" to the left, why does it look like there is some type of geometric pattern on it ?

If these were on two different photos I most likely would say "ya it's a rock and shadows", but both together in one spot ?

I do not have the high-end software to realy have a good look at what IS there, which is why I posted it. Maybe someone does and can have a better look. until then it's just a "rock".

Looking at the "rock" in the right side of the enlargement, yes the shadows could be just making it look like a face on it, but why does the face look like it has a headband of some sort ?

This ones wearing a hat. Well I see a hat.

If these were on two different photos I most likely would say "ya it's a rock and shadows", but both together in one spot ?

Why can't rocks have shadows on them?

Originally posted by 1-Cent
Ugh are you people blinde?! It's clearly a flux capacitor!! Isn't it obvious!?

Its encased inside a giant glass dome with a massive twisting spire of gold at its peak. If you look closely you can see the Egyptian influence in the hieroglyphs more towards the entrance to the underground flying submarine base.

I agree. "Think McFly! Think!"

Not sure what your looking at 1-Cent. The rock on the left has NO shadow, just the pattern on it.

Oh wait, maybe the rover was just doodling on the rocks while taking pictures....

It looks like a rock. Turn is sideways and it looks like a rock. I guess the only way to tell is to pick it up...wait, Mars is far.

Darn the picture of the rock face wearing a hat exceeded bandwidth...

How about this one, it's even on Mars




I quoted what you said about it being formation plus shadows and that was improbable in your opinion, but I don't understand how you got there?

The only reason you see a smiley face in that image is because you recognize the pop culture icon as something artificial. That doesn't however mean that because something looks like a smiley face in nature that it must be man made by default.

I see where you see a "face" on the rock. Its two little dots for eyes, an elongated oval'ish dot for a nose and a shapeless mouth. The partially melted candle in front of me resembles a flower, because its a simple shape to recreate, like a bunch of dots and squiggles or a smiley face.

Originally posted by 1-Cent
Darn the picture of the rock face wearing a hat exceeded bandwidth...

How about this one, it's even on Mars




I quoted what you said about it being formation plus shadows and that was improbable in your opinion, but I don't understand how you got there?

The only reason you see a smiley face in that image is because you recognize the pop culture icon as something artificial. That doesn't however mean that because something looks like a smiley face in nature that it must be man made by default.

I see where you see a "face" on the rock. Its two little dots for eyes, an elongated oval'ish dot for a nose and a shapeless mouth. The partially melted candle in front of me resembles a flower, because its a simple shape to recreate, like a bunch of dots and squiggles or a smiley face.

Sorry but I never said it was improbable. I did say it looks strange and when you have two things in a photo that look strange, the Strange Meter goes up a bit. I did say it could be just rocks and shadow but it still looks strange. And I also did ask "Is it a Rock ?" and if maybe someone can take a better look.

Good thing you pointed out the smiley(that's realy reaching) or I would have missed it, looks like craters and windridges to me.

Thanks for the "dots and sqiggles" bit, I had a good laugh. Why you ask? I spent many years drafting up blueprints for oil proccessing equipment(now retired) and when people asked what I did for work I would show them a blueprint. All they would see are "dots and sqiggles" because they did not know what they were looking at.

Like I did say before, until someone who does know and can take a better look at the photos, it's just a rock or is it ?

Thanks for the "dots and sqiggles" bit, I had a good laugh. Why you ask? I spent many years drafting up blueprints for oil proccessing equipment(now retired) and when people asked what I did for work I would show them a blueprint. All they would see are "dots and sqiggles" because they did not know what they were looking at.

I could draw parallels to my sector of engineering too... we're out of our lines of expertise though, and thats my point. No one that sees artifacts or ruins on mars or the moon, has any idea what such things would look like if they were standing in them on Earth.

And you really wouldn't have pieced together the image of a smiley face if I never told you? cmon How is seeing a smiley face there at all reaching in comparison to what you think you see!

It's clearly been left by the last robot we sent there, providing NASA a way to add speculation towards dead civilisations on mars so that people can get all excited about it and not complain about the fact that they're wasting our time.

Oops... i said too much...

Originally posted by 1-Cent

Thanks for the "dots and sqiggles" bit, I had a good laugh. Why you ask? I spent many years drafting up blueprints for oil proccessing equipment(now retired) and when people asked what I did for work I would show them a blueprint. All they would see are "dots and sqiggles" because they did not know what they were looking at.

I could draw parallels to my sector of engineering too... we're out of our lines of expertise though, and thats my point. No one that sees artifacts or ruins on mars or the moon, has any idea what such things would look like if they were standing in them on Earth.

And you really wouldn't have pieced together the image of a smiley face if I never told you? cmon

How is seeing a smiley face there at all reaching in comparison to what you think you see!

Well I'm glad we both agree that we don't know what we are looking at. We can only guess until a Pro with this stuff has a look.

Yes realy, I did miss the smiley....too many years of blueprints, I normaly see geometric shapes first, could not draw a flower or face if my life depended on it lol

reply to post by 1-Cent


Where is this crater supposedly from and who or what took this picture?