Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Solarsystem Collection
title:
Magnified Mars
description:
This magnified look at the martian soil near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site, Meridiani Planum, shows coarse grains sprinkled over a fine layer of sand. The image was captured by the rover's microscopic imager on the 10th day, or sol, of its mission and roughly approximates the color a human eye would see. Scientists are intrigued by the spherical rocks, which can be formed by a variety of geologic processes, including cooling of molten lava droplets and accretion of concentric layers of material around a particle or "seed".

The examined patch of soil is 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) across. The circular grain in the lower left corner is approximately 3 millimeters (.12 inches) across, or about the size of a sunflower seed.

This color composite was obtained by merging images acquired with the orange-tinted dust cover in both its open and closed positions. The blue tint at the lower right corner is a tag used by scientists to indicate that the dust cover is closed.

*Image Credit*: NASA/JPL/US Geological Survey
keywords:
Solar System Exploration
keywords:
SSE
keywords:
Space
keywords:
NASA
keywords:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
keywords:
JPL
keywords:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
keywords:
Planets
facet_what:
Mars
facet_what:
Opportunity
facet_what:
Imager
facet_what:
Microscopic Imager
facet_what:
Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where:
Mars
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
UID:
SPD-SLRSY-1243
original url:

Magnified Mars