APOD: Unusual Spheres on Mars (2012 Sep 25)

[Dr. Floyd]

It seems fossilized coral.

[hstarbuck]

It is amazing that Opportunity is still alive and making new discoveries after 8 + years. Is this our first view of evidence of life on Mars? Besides the bacteria in the meteorites, but I do not believe there agreement there one way or the other.

[gdreiber]

these spheres look similar to the ones that preciatate out onto our ocean floors, metallic in the case of our oceans.

[astronut2012]

Based on their form and apearance, plus the obvious current bedding between the spheres, I would say that they are most propably Oolites. Ooids can be composed of Calcium (Aragonite), phosphate, or Haematite. Their formation is caused by chemical precipitation and accretion around a seed particle, often a sand grain. Current action rolls the Ooid around, resulting in the spherical shape. This implies the existance of liquid water as a depositional medium.....

[BMAONE23]

Based on their form and apearance, plus the obvious current bedding between the spheres, I would say that they are most propably Oolites. Ooids can be composed of Calcium (Aragonite), phosphate, or Haematite. Their formation is caused by chemical precipitation and accretion around a seed particle, often a sand grain. Current action rolls the Ooid around, resulting in the spherical shape. This implies the existance of liquid water as a depositional medium.....

Given This Image via WIKI of Oolites in Utah I would hazard a guess that you are correct

[jm3]

Sure, it looks harmless now. Wait until it hatches!

[NoelC]

they remind me of Malted Milk Balls, if you've eaten one you'll know what i mean.

We now have more incentive to go

I'd be okay with that. Malted Milk Ball mine for food: Check. Ice mine for water: Check. Probably have to bring some air is all.

These things seem to be in a solid matrix, partially eroded away... They look to me to have been in water at one time.

-Noel

[jeffduncan]

Micro-geodes.

[ta152h0]

monolith monsters.........

[neufer]

they remind me of Malted Milk Balls, if you've eaten one you'll know what i mean.

We now have more incentive to go

I'd be okay with that. Malted Milk Ball mine for food: Check. Ice mine for water: Check. Probably have to bring some air is all.

These things seem to be in a solid matrix, partially eroded away... They look to me to have been in water at one time.

MAHDI – "In the Fremen messianic legend, 'The One Who Will Lead Us to Paradise;'"
applied to Paul Atreides by the Fremen when they determine that he is their prophesied messiah.

[b][color=#0000FF]A giant sandworm among a field of[/color][/b] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltesers]Mars Malted Milk Balls[/url] [b][color=#0000FF]Sandworms are capable of eating NoelC but the latter contains a level of water beyond their preferred tolerances. Sandworms routinely devour Malted Milk-harvesting equipment — mistaking the mechanical rhythm for prey.[/color][/b]

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<<Mars had been "His Imperial Majesty's Desert Botanical Testing Station" before the discovery of Malted Milk Balls, for which it is the only natural source in the universe. Malted Milk (or, "the spice") is the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe, as it extends life and makes safe interstellar travel possible (among other uses). The planet has no surface water bodies, but open canals called qanats are used "for carrying irrigation water under controlled conditions" through the desert. The Fremen collect water in underground reservoirs to fulfill their dream of someday terraforming the planet, and pay the Spacing Guild exorbitant fees in Malted Milk to keep the skies over Mars free of any satellites which might observe their efforts. As indicated by its large salt flats, Mars once had lakes and oceans; wells drilled in the sinks and basins initially produce a "trickle" of water which soon stops, as if "something plugs it." The few plants and animals on the planet include "saguaro, burro bush, date palm, sand verbena, evening primrose, barrel cactus, incense bush, smoke tree, creosote bush ... kit fox, desert hawk, kangaroo mouse ... many to be found now nowhere else in the universe except here on Mars." The most notable life forms on the planet are the giant sandworms and their immature forms of sandtrout and sandplankton. Sandtrout encyst any water deposits; predator fish are placed in the qanats and other water storage areas to protect them from the sandtrout.>>

[Beyond]

I think 'someone' has been visiting tooo many Mars bars lately.

[Guest]

beads of sweat...or very similar

[papaET]

They look like bubbles from heated liguid. Some of the "Bubbles" appear to have popped prior to cooling. Several of them appear also to have other bubbles within the ones that appear to have burst.

Eric

[Guest]

I am amazed that no-one else has comented on the two objects mentioned by paul_adams777. The left one looks definitely organic (and multicellular) -completely out of place- while what worries me about the other is its perpendicularity ! No doubt some official "explanation" will eventually be produced, but to me it calls into question the credibility of the whole image.

[neufer]

Does anyone have any explanations for the two oddball items near the top-centre in this image?

First, there is a fractured ball that has lines crossing it, top-left to bottom right. If this was a photo from on earth, I would have immediately concluded that it was part of a spider's web. I can't see anything like it anywhere else in this picture.

Second, just to the right of that fractured ball, there is an area that looks like it is very light-coloured, and possibly spiky. My first thought was compression noise, possibly due to saturation, but I can't figure out why this specific area would be so different to the surrounding.

First, there are lots of striations running from the top-left to bottom right throughout the picture.
I don't know why you think that this one is particularly special.

Second, just to the right of that fractured ball, there is another fractured area that just happens
to be angled so as to produce a smooth specular reflection of the sun (when not in shadow).

[NoelC]

LOL, Art. To this day our highly practiced non-rythmic walks are often mistaken for intoxication.

-Noel

[astronut2012]

From the structure an presence of cross bedding of the matrix in which the spheres are enclosed, I would guess that these are Oolites - calcium, phosphate or even haematite formed by accretion around a seed, ususually a sand grain. On earth ooids form in shallow lakes subject to current action, which rolls the particles back and forth, creating their spherical shape.

[mwarrington]

Frost.

[rogerp]

There is a terrestrial phenomenon that gives a similar if smaller-scale effect, Snow Rollers. We had an excellent crop of these some years back. They are wind-rolled snow balls. The size they grow to is determined by the force and duration of the wind and the relative stickiness of the snow. The effect conjures up an image of a field-scale snowball fight. A confusing feature is that once they stop moving [when their size, mass and friction stops the wind blowing them along] they then allow a clear path-like area to develop downwind. This creates the impression that the snowballs have rolled themselves upwind, leaving a track. In fact they form by rolling with the wind, of course, and when they stop they act as windbrakes. Is there a material on Mars which would be sticky enough to bind dust together to roll, accumulate to a critical size and essentially spherical shape, and then stop moving, sometimes breaking apart or becoming somewhat irregular or cylindrical in shape? Under Martian gravity one can imagine quite large structures to form on frozen surfaces, but perhaps not as large as these? At least this provides a physical rather than a chemical model to attempt to explain the features in the photo. Rogerp
See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... menon.html

[neufer]

From the structure an presence of cross bedding of the matrix in which the spheres are enclosed, I would guess that these are Oolites - calcium, phosphate or even haematite formed by accretion around a seed, unusually a sand grain. On earth ooids form in shallow lakes subject to current action, which rolls the particles back and forth, creating their spherical shape.

Certainly the iron rich "blueberries" are probably haematite ooids:

<<The spectral signature of hematite was seen on the planet Mars by the infrared spectrometer on the NASA Mars Global Surveyor ("MGS") and 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft in orbit around Mars. The mineral was seen in abundance at two sites on the planet, the Terra Meridiani site, near the Martian equator at 0° longitude, and the second site Aram Chaos near the Valles Marineris. Several other sites also showed hematite, e.g., Aureum Chaos. Because terrestrial hematite is typically a mineral formed in aqueous environments, or by aqueous alteration, this detection was scientifically interesting enough that the second of the two Mars Exploration Rovers was targeted to a site in the Terra Meridiani region designated Meridiani Planum. In-situ investigations by the Opportunity rover showed a significant amount of hematite, much of it in the form of small spherules that were informally named "blueberries" by the science team. Analysis indicates that these spherules are apparently concretions formed from a water solution. "Knowing just how the hematite on Mars was formed will help us characterize the past environment and determine whether that environment was favorable for life,">>

But these suckers are iron deficient:

Unusual Spheres on Mars

The above image taken by Opportunity's Microscopic Imager shows that some ground near the rover is filled with these unusual spheres, each spanning only about 3 millimeters. At first glance, the sometimes-fractured balls appear similar to the small rocks dubbed blueberries seen by Opportunity eight years ago, but these spheres are densely compacted and have little iron content.

Rather than assuming (life related?) calcium or phosphate is involved what about considering something like manganese:

[b][color=#0000FF]Polymetallic/manganese nodules, are rock concretions on the sea bottom formed of concentric layers of [u]iron & manganese hydroxides[/u] around a core.[/color][/b]

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<<Polymetallic nodules were discovered in 1868 in the Kara Sea, in the Arctic Ocean of Siberia. During the scientific expeditions of the HMS Challenger (1872-76), they were found to occur in most oceans of the world. They can occur at any depth, even in lakes, but the highest concentrations have been found on vast abyssal plains in the deep ocean between 4,000 and 6,000 m. Most nodules are between 5 and 10 cm in diameter, about the size of potatoes. Their surface is generally smooth, sometimes rough, mammilated (knobby) or otherwise irregular.

Nodule growth is one of the slowest of all geological phenomena – on the order of a centimeter over several million years. Several processes are involved in the formation of nodules, including the precipitation of metals from seawater (hydrogenous), the remobilization of manganese in the water column (diagenetic), the derivation of metals from hot springs associated with volcanic activity (hydrothermal), the decomposition of basaltic debris by seawater (halmyrolitic) and the precipitation of metal hydroxides through the activity of microorganisms (biogenic). Several of these processes may operate concurrently or they may follow one another during the formation of a nodule.>>

[Peter's Garden]

This pebble I found in my garden. It is a half broken ball of flintstone, about 3.5 cm diameter, inside hardened sand...