"It Was a Bad Day at ‘Acephalous Gulch’, Pardner" or “Heads Will Roll at Cumberland”

"It Was a Bad Day at ‘Acephalous Gulch’, Pardner"
or “Heads Will Roll at Cumberland”

I have slept on this one for five days, whether or not to post what is below.

Here it is. I am prepared for the gnashing of teeth and snide comments, but I need some resolution on this image.

It has haunted me.

I need your help, really digging into this one. If you have serious image analysis skills please spend some time on this one. If you know a professional analyst that can rip through this, see if they would take a gander. I don’t feel that I have seen everything to see in this image, but it’s a start.

Image Source Data & Detail for SOL 353 2013-08-03 19:45
Site 11 / 302 / 4 --- SCLK428827519 --- SEQ mcam01435
Approximate Location / East 8146125, North -272065.95
Image list I have found available for SOL 353 of target subject area:
0353MR0014460000301273E01_DRCL.IMG
0353MR0014460000301273E01_DRCL.LBL
0353MR0014460000301273E01_DRCL.jpg JPEG 422
0353MR0014460000301273E01_DRCL.png
0353MR0014460000301273E01_DRCX 5MB
0353MR0014460000301273E01_DRLX 10MB
0353MR0014460000301273E01_DRXX 10MB
0353MR0014460000301273E01_XXXX 374KB
Mastcam: Right 2013-08-03 18:52:20 UTC 0353MR1446000000E1_DXXX.jpg
Mastcam: Left 2013-08-03 18:52:01 UTC 0353ML1446000000E1_DXXX.jpg
-------------------------------------------------------
NASA-MSL SOL DOCUMENT (Excerpted)
Sol 353-355 : SOWG Documentarian
Summary
SOWG Chair: Doug Ming
LTP: Sanjeev Gupta
Science Planner: Nimisha Mittal
Documentarian: Jen Griffes
High-level summary:
All instruments are healthy going into this 3-sol plan. Sol 353 includes a targeted science block with ChemCam and Mastcam, along with the SSS backbone with SAM dropoff (Cumberland sample), then overnight SAM EGA analysis. Sol 354 includes a mobility backbone and associated imaging with an approximately 60 meter drive planned. Sol 355 includes an untargeted science block with ChemCam and Mastcam, along with a Mt. Sharp Navcam movie.
Mission Manager – Activities;
Drop-off sample to SAM and overnight analysis.
Sol Mission: Targeted Remote Sensing; SAM "Cumberland" Sample Delivery and Analysis
Today's Plan:
Sol 353: (no PM passes)
DAN passive
Science Block (Mastcam Excerpted)
- Mastcam 1x1 L0R0 Hector CCAM, pri 1
- Mastcam 1x1 L0R0 Howey CCAM, pri 3
- Mastcam shrink wrap stereo 1x1 L0R0 Hudson, pri 2
Resources:
Get all critical data down but close to 900 Mb limit
We are sun safe.
Plan has been approved.
(End of NASA-MSL MISSION Excerpt)
-------------------------------------------------------

Here is where the Target was located.
“Target Curio Pixel Coordinate” Reference Image;
(I will be referencing TCPC from this source image, even if I am using a cropped and annotated image for verification integrity… Buzz D.)
0353MR0014460000301273E01_DRCL.png 2965KB
You can download a copy at;
mars.jpl.nasa.gov...
Image Timestamp is 2013-08-03 18:52:20 UTC

How do I even start this?
The image opens up at 100% on my screen.
As I parse through the frame, the first thing that caught my eye the deeply carved gully in the middle of the bottom half on the image. Interesting. Then my eye catches a light color/silvery area halfway to the right edge. So I zoom in (700) on it at 1007, 763. It is indeed a chrome orb-ish shaped object... and it appears to be on a translucent stand, with the top being at 1007, 757 and the bottom of the structure at 1007, 797.... mildly interesting and certainly "not a rock"- OK, so I will look more in depth at that later. Back to parsing

Swinging back to the gully (still at 700 zoom) I see a "quad-lobed blue blob"... WOW, that is really interesting. I stare at it and it looks translucent, gelatinous, almost like a jellyfish, but is almost glows with so much reflected light in contrast to everything else in frame. Again, I make a note of the position to look at "Blue Blob" later if I can locate a better resolution image on Sol 353 (or maybe other Sols at this spot). Then I glance left of Blue Blob... what the heck?

OK, I look at a lot of MSL pictures for analysis... I really mean a lot. It is almost a second occupation at this point. I am used to my fusiform gyrus inflicting brutal bouts of pareidolia between my ears... I am still staring at this one... I physically get up, take a bathroom break, get a drink and sit back down to reevaluate what I think I saw. It is still as I saw.. I quickly write down, 569, 755, now with 730 zoom. I am still coming to terms, visually, with what I see. It looks apparently like a small humanoid biped with its right arm sharply bent across the chest area (the arm also casting a shadow down its vertical body from under the elbow). The end of the right arm looks like a cleaved or fingered hand. What would be the head area has again, translucent and reflective qualities. Legs descend from the waist area. How can I describe this to anyone, is what I thought. I move away from it to come back later and re-view the area for a second time.

I move back to look at the gully... still at 730 zoom on my IrfanView.
Just when I thought I had seen weird stuff in the image, I had a jaw dropping moment.

Just to reiterate, I look at a lot of MSL pictures for analysis... I really mean a lot.
I am shocked, truly shocked…
I clearly, absolutely see on the screen, not a skull, but a severed head with a tinge of bluish-purple hue (918,901). And not really severed at that. I can see what would be the bronchial or esophageal entrails (897,890 to 897, 881) laying eviscerated below the neck on the surface. As plain as day (sol), I see an ear (907, 901). I see both eye sockets (925, 903 & 930, 902) and a gaping mouth (920, 892).

I am disturbed by this vision.
I am surely too tired and have descended into a weary pareidolic stupor.

I take a long break and get a snack, disturbed the whole time. I come back and indeed I AM seeing a face on Mars [I]and it certainly isn’t at Cydonia.[/I]
Spinal column with rib processes on its left and right (866, 905), A mass of vertical rib(?) structures casting shadows on the rocks behind at (833, 877)… I often play around with image settings after I find a curio to see new information in the image. I have a stand-by array with my IrfanView Image settings for 'color correction’ of contrast=7, gamma=1.10 and color saturation=255max. This further confirmed my eyesight was fine when I noticed “Blue Blob” & “Blue Head”. Possibly a second Blue Head (upper torso, chest up) with left an right arms akimbo each side of the head (669, 862). I am still working with this image and other versions of the same shot. Trying to get to the .IMG level but NASAView has no zoom capability (at least for my version of the software).

OK, I posted it, so let the circus of trolling, ridiculing, sneering & jeering commence.

NASA did not pick Gale Crater by throwing darts, but they did hit a bull's-eye with their targeting of the MSL mission.

Image links,
Roadmap with annotations
Likely too large to function at ATS…

files.abovetopsecret.com...

Grayscale Inverted and annotated…
files.abovetopsecret.com...
files.abovetopsecret.com...

MEGA Fileshare for full size/full resolution Images I annotated at;
mega.co.nz...!qtQxRRgB!b_Bw8wjFDnKKKy0WiAQC7Q

Thanks...
[snipped]

The silver sphere looks oddly out of place...the rest looks like you need to go outside and stretch a bit....methinks

If you look at the "blue blob" and "humanoid" together it kind of looks like a phallus. (Why god why do I stare at rocks after seeing they are rocks?)



Don't shoot the messenger…

reply to post by stirling


Hi Stirling, You can't see much in the uploaded ATS files, admittedly. I am pointing you to the target. It takes a little effort to go to the source files and look up the pixel X-Y references. It is practically impossible to upload anything of meaningful resolution, as a regular user, here at ATS... you need to go to the NASA source files to view the targets in hi-res in order to catch my drift, imho

reply to post by boncho


... wow, I see what you mean... Blue Blob is really Martian Viagra, and it evidently works well.

reply to post by BuzzDengue


never quite understood y'all pareidolia folks ....

seeing stuff that simply isn't there ..... no matter how much you try to pixelate/increase the resolution

... sometimes, most times, near always .... rocks are ROCKS. dirt is DIRT. dust is DUST .... no matter if they, like cluds in the sky, 'appear' to your mind as a puppy's face .... or what have you ...

(??)


nuckin futters ..... seems the best guess, so far, imho

Annie Mossity
reply to post by BuzzDengue

 

never quite understood y'all pareidolia folks ....

seeing stuff that simply isn't there ..... no matter how much you try to pixelate/increase the resolution

... sometimes, most times, near always .... rocks are ROCKS. dirt is DIRT. dust is DUST .... no matter if they, like cluds in the sky, 'appear' to your mind as a puppy's face .... or what have you ...

(??)


nuckin futters ..... seems the best guess, so far, imho

Hi Annie,

Thanks for your response and taking the time to look up the NASA source files.
Even though our opinions differ, you still appear well "spoke-n" ; )



files.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by BuzzDengue


Yes, the Spoke creature is where the Vegas money is riding, and at the risk of thread drift (Buzz started it, but please don't take your posting attention off of his new topic), and since Buzz made his own thread on the blobs and floaters and heads and translucent whatthoses (funbox has also pictured all those well), here is a chance to link to the start of the interest in his Spoke. ArtMap sees separate rocks making up the spokes (he says that the two lower ones seem to be on the ground in front of the rest of them) yet I cannot get over the well-defined rim around the slightly sunken spokes, a rim which undulates along the line of the "spokes".

Here's Buzz's original post and then the follow up posts where funbox adds the pics and I add the "Oh My God!" non-curb your enthusiasm and go all gaga over the find:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Then we have another one, which may be a second spoke creature laid out on a flat barreled rock but it is pretty far away to say anything but maybe, pictured here hanging out with his little green martian buddy.