Amazing "like living crature" anomaly on martian surface in Curiosity sol 173?

Originally posted by nomadros
Apart from the item in question, the thing that really gets me going (from the same gigapan) is this...

Unless the rover did that marking I guess we'll just have to wait for Nasa to come and sprinkle their explanation fairy dust on it.

at the bottom right of the image

Have a look at this section in the GigaPan view using a powerful magnifying glass two points back from full zoom.

I don't think NASA will have an honest answer to this one.

Originally posted by arianna

Originally posted by nomadros
Apart from the item in question, the thing that really gets me going (from the same gigapan) is this...

Unless the rover did that marking I guess we'll just have to wait for Nasa to come and sprinkle their explanation fairy dust on it.

at the bottom right of the image

Have a look at this section in the GigaPan view using a powerful magnifying glass two points back from full zoom.

I don't think NASA will have an honest answer to this one.

That's a Hugo track, dragging his tail as he searches out a rock to perch on.

reply to post by arianna


I don't have a magnifying glass...do you mean the black bug things that are spread all through the gigapan?

Originally posted by nomadros
Apart from the item in question, the thing that really gets me going (from the same gigapan) is this...

Unless the rover did that marking I guess we'll just have to wait for Nasa to come and sprinkle their explanation fairy dust on it.

at the bottom right of the image

Great spot. Would someone know if this could have been due to the Rover? It doesn't look like any Rover tracks or markings I've seen. This could be odder than Hugo itself!
It's definitely on the soft/grain/soil and is not a fissure on the harder rock. I've looked around and there is nothing else like this on the picture.

The markings reminded me of the Sliding rocks at Death Valley
I look forward to updates.

Originally posted by nomadros
Apart from the item in question, the thing that really gets me going (from the same gigapan) is this...

Unless the rover did that marking I guess we'll just have to wait for Nasa to come and sprinkle their explanation fairy dust on it.

at the bottom right of the image

Maybe it is a vein of gypsum (similar to the vein found by Opportunity back in 2011), but still covered with dust.

Gypsum forms in wet places, and NASA thinks that the area Curiosity is exploring was once covered in water or at least was a very wet place.


Gypsum found by Opportunity:
Source:NASA Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water




or maybe it is the straight edge of one of these flat rocks (in the foreground), but still covered in dust:



(Click Here for larger image)




By the way, here are some larger Raw images from NASA showing that object you found in the gigapan:

From Sol 173 (the pictures from the gigapan):



and some from Sol 170:



And this Navcam image from Sol 168:

Originally posted by wildespace

Originally posted by sk0rpi0n
The "living crature" is being reported by Yahoo as well.

news.yahoo.com...

Except they are calling it a "hood ornament".

I does look like one! Maybe is the fossilised remains of a martian cadillac.

Or maybe a truck?

Maybe this image will help to clarify what's really in the view.

reply to post by arianna


As usual, it does not help, as you reduce the quality of the image.

Making an image worse doesn't make it easier to see what's there.

reply to post by ArMaP

But it does make it easier to see something that isn't there.

This is the 'original' view of the above image without any processing of the image except to add an ellipse around some of the features. Looking carefully it can be seen that there are definite recognizable shapes within each ellipse which could well be tiny structures.

reply to post by arianna


Sorry, I don't see anything in the areas circled. I thought you were referring to the little black object about 2" down from the top left of your pic snip that is too black to be a shadow but that could just be a dodgy pixel though. There's a good few of them throughout the pan. As Artmap says, the clear linear area appears raised rather than scored so it could just be a slight ridge that catches any wind or it could be "The Evil Alien Moles of Mars" if i wanted to go off on one. It's difficult to see though as the clear line is almost directly on the shadow casting line.

There is a lot of imagery you could "imagine" if you look throughout the gigapan...I can see a broken road running along the top and broken bridge etc along with all sorts of stuff, but they are probably just rocks of course and I'm applying mental patterns to try and make sense of what I'm seeing.

Even "Hugo" could be an optical illusion and that the shiny bit is part of a rock further away and the foremost rock could have a fracture in it, that by coincidence just happen to line up. As for the shiny part, there are some other areas in the picture that seem to reflect a burst of light, so it could just be the angle that rock is lying at that causes the illusion of a polished object.

reply to post by ArMaP


I used the GigaPan image.

Your presentation is interesting and with an included anaglyph.

ArMaP, how about producing an anaglyph of the area I selected then we will find out if the shapes are indeed pebbles covered with sand.

Here is a closer monochrome view. I have to say in all honesty that the shapes do not look like 'pebbles' to me.

Originally posted by ArMaP


PS: the name is ArMaP.

Oops...apologies. In my defence, there's another forum I'm on with a member called Artnap. Now to find a couple of coloured bits of plastic.

One of the great mysteries of life is that no matter how many pairs of red/blue glasses you have, you can never ever find them again once you get them into the house.

I might nip over to unmannedspaceflight and see if they have anything on this, however they do have a standing order under pain of expulsion, never ever to even contemplate the slightest hint of off Earth "organics."

Originally posted by ArMaP
As there's a left and right photo, I made some a crosseye version (to me, the one that works the best) and an anaglyph, so we could get an idea of things are in 3D.

Wow, thanks for this stereo image, ArMaP. It makes it clear (to me, at least) that this feature is raised above the ground, and looks like a vein of harder rock that got exposed by erosion.

P.S. arianna's martian structures are getting smaller and smaller! Perhaps martians are intelligent ants.

Originally posted by wildespace

P.S. arianna's martian structures are getting smaller and smaller! Perhaps martians are intelligent ants.

wildspace, they are even smaller than the size of ants on this planet. They stand between 1.6 and 1.7 millimeters high. Their buildings are very small and a single-storey structure would only be between 3 to 5 millimeters in height but there are larger structures. Unfortunately, the majority of the structures are too small for the mastcam to resolve effectively.