Found something moving in sky images from the Curiosity Rover (NOT overloaded pixels). Sol 154

Here are two of them in one frame from 2013-01-11 07:18:02 UTC



I found through randomly selecting a few images.

There are probably quite a few of these to be found in the navcam images.

My best guess is some sort of image artifacts/anomalies... probably not flying anythings. But... that's just a guess.

Trying to be objective, we found this as well.

It looks like one of those white dots are more in the foreground and over land:



So maybe it IS dust?

Edit - Bottom left - over the ground.

Originally posted by Zarniwoop
Here are two of them in one frame from 2013-01-11 07:18:02 UTC

I found through randomly selecting a few images.

There are probably quite a few of these to be found in the navcam images.

My best guess is some sort of image artifacts/anomalies... probably not flying anythings. But... that's just a guess.

I'm leaning heavily towards your idea.

Thanks.

Actually, over 15 images just came in taken with the NavCam from Sol 162.

There is nothing like what we see in the OP going on at all:

curiositymsl.com...

Check all Sol 162 NavCam images. I don't see anything, and there are 5x the amount of images.

Here's just one from 162, but you'll see nothing is going on:

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

So here we go again. Can it still be dust?

Unless someone proves this is dust or is an outright hoax, I'm at a loss and literally woke me up. I was half asleep in bed doing one last run through on the forums saw this, was ready to roll my eyes, but you have got me utterly confused

Well done op! S and F!!

Originally posted by impaired
Does anyone have any ideas on this one??

Phobos or Deimos? Just a thought.
Does anyone know how to tell where those moons are relative to Curiosity?

Originally posted by bknapple32
Unless someone proves this is dust or is an outright hoax, I'm at a loss and literally woke me up. I was half asleep in bed doing one last run through on the forums saw this, was ready to roll my eyes, but you have got me utterly confused

Well done op! S and F!!

proves that it is dust?....it's already be proven years ago that mars has a thin atmosphere, to the point that there are dust devils on the surface...that means this could be dust coming up from the surface, and swirling around.
c'mon guys, as in every investigation, you have to remove the obvious first, before continuing.

reply to post by impaired


Hello impaired, these white dots are not Ufos but marks in the pictures that frequently
appear as I will demonstrate in this video. Check the images and you will know more
about these conventional marks. Watch the video in full screen for better definition.

Not sure what to make of it....I am kinda thinking it may be distant planetary bodies or perhaps stars viewed from surface level of mar's?Or an angel,or a ufo,or an asteroid,or a meteor,or some space debris,or a comet,or a new military/nasa project spacecraft......or the personal fave.....swamp gas!See the fact is the photos/pictures are to inconclusive to formulate any lucrative judgement on the matter at hand...since the true nature of these is still wrapped in obscurity....all ya got is speculation mate!

This kinda sorta looks like what I caught in my video, only farther away on mars. Link: www.youtube.com... Tell me what you think????

Originally posted by candlelight
This kinda sorta looks like what I caught in my video, only farther away on mars. Link: www.youtube.com... Tell me what you think????

I'm not sure what you mean. I don't think the white spot in the OP's video looks anything like your video of the black spot where the Sun should be.

Besides, you video is simply a case of the camera's CCD shutting down in order to prevent damage. That's what most cameras do when they are pointed directly at and extremely bright light (such as the Sun). That's your camera's way of telling you not to point it at the Sun.

Hello. I am the friend that brought these anomalies to the attention of OP. I am not as knowledgeable about space nor mars so I don't have too much to bring to the conversation. That being said, I hope we can come to a conclusion on what these things are.

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People
Phobos or Deimos? Just a thought.
Does anyone know how to tell where those moons are relative to Curiosity?

I take this back. I didn't notice the timestamps say that the images were taken within a minute or so of each other.

Originally posted by free_spirit
reply to post by impaired

 

Hello impaired, these white dots are not Ufos but marks in the pictures that frequently
appear as I will demonstrate in this video. Check the images and you will know more
about these conventional marks. Watch the video in full screen for better definition.

The dots you are showing me in the video are overloaded pixels.

Also, they are from a different camera - the MastCam 100 mm.

It has been explained and determined that what is in the OP are NOT overloaded pixels.

It's either dust or something else that we don't know.

But once again, what you showed in the video are blown pixels from the MastCam 100. I know this because I stitch Mars images together and I HATE those things (the overloaded pixels). They are an eyesore.

Edit - it's disconcerting that people starred that post before even watching the video.

And if I said in the title of the OP, "NOT overloaded pixels", why would you show me a video showing overloaded pixels???

If the "object" is in the same spot in each image, chances are they are overloaded pixels.

What is shown in the OP are not. You can already see the overload pixels.

And there is no explanation in that video. No audio - just someone pointing out these pixels which come up as white dots when they are really black. I don't know what that is about. Please watch the video.

Plus that video was just made today.

No offense, but it's not the right video to show in this case. Those marks you are showing are in the same spot. NOT what is in the OP.

And I still am wondering why your video that was just made is showing the overloaded pixels as white when they really come up as black.

Here's a MastCam image with the bad pixels in the sky. They're always in the same place on the image. The patterns match with what is in the other poster's video.

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

NASA's response would probably be "Weather balloons". Could it be a satellite or a planet?

Originally posted by sublik
NASA's response would probably be "Weather balloons". Could it be a satellite or a planet?

I don't think so. I can't see a satellite or even a planet being picked up by the NavCam - especially during the day (I could be wrong). But also - satellites and planets don't "move" like the object does in the OP.

And I'm more worried about people giving credence to that video posted above when it was just made and shows exactly what the OP is NOT talking about.

Taken from the first live photos being showed at 4 am central time on the night Curiosity landed

Originally posted by impaired
I am saying UFO because it's simply an "Unidentified Flying Object".

This was brought to my attention by a friend. I blew up the 3 NavCam images (Resized them) then uploaded them to an animated GIF hosting site.

The object in question is in the sky - top-middle towards the left.

You will notice a black dot in the sky. Those are just overloaded pixels. What I see is towards the left of that. It's whitish.

Does anyone else see it? I will try to crop them and keep them aligned and try again if anyone thinks it's something worth looking into.

If it's nothing, no big deal.

From Sol 154 - NavCam Left (animated GIF):

makeagif.com...

Raw images from NASA/JPL:

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

It moves in somewhat of a triangle trajectory, based solely on the 3 images.

And with the colors inverted:

The three white dots in the inverted images are overloaded pixels.

Edit - Added cropped version and negative version to the OP - courtesy of my friend.

edit on 1/19/2013 by impaired because: (no reason given)

looks like a studio light...

that someone forgot to turn off

That's really interesting Impaired.
And I know you know your Curiousity images
better than just about anyone. Very odd. And yep not the typical dark dust
that appears in the same relative area on each sectional.. This is not that.
It's white and moves, in an arc perhaps ? Cool !