NASA photo captures strange bright light coming out of Mars

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Wonder what's was near the object when it was received through the live feed?

 

[Tyger]

Like I said, if it's one frame.

Do you know that the camera swept and captured 8 images? What if it's 8 instances of a single image that is zoomed gradually, by cropping?

I think it's just one image, but if you find out it's not, please tell.

I was wondering about that, too.

I don't see why a human observer would be better in this case. If it's something other than a particle or a camera artifact, they can just steer the Rover in the right direction, - and it wouldn't run out of oxygen on the way.

On the face of it, yes - but what if the terrain is prohibitive?

Anyway, this is one of those exciting moments - the unknown, and trying to figure it all out.

 

[Soupie]

I've read that it's a dust devil.

 

[Constance]

A similar capture/phenomenon occurred one day later in about the same location, again showing up only in the right hand camera.

 

[Tyger]

A similar capture/phenomenon occurred one day later in about the same location, again showing up only in the right hand camera.

So cool - a MYSTERY!

So, still could be a dust devil - might be a wind pattern that develops under the weather temps of late afternoon (say) or some such. Or - a wondrous suggestion, or someone said that it looked like it - it's a geyser. It seemed so very definitely there - and big. How many miles away?

From the Article: " "One possibility is that the light is the glint from a rock surface reflecting the sun," Maki said in the statement. "When these images were taken each day, the sun was in the same direction as the bright spot, west-northwest from the rover, and relatively low in the sky."

"Another possibility is that the bright spots are sunlight reaching the camera's image sensor through a vent hole in the camera housing, which has happened before with Curiosity and other Mars rovers, the agency said.

" "We think it's either a vent-hole light or a glinty rock," Maki said in the emailed statement. Another possibility is that it's a cosmic ray striking the camera's detector, he added.

"Before NASA offered a suggestion of what might be the source of the bright spots, bloggers and space enthusiasts started chiming in.

"Scott C. Waring, who maintains the website UFO Sightings Daily, posted the photo April 6.

"Waring noted that the light shines upward, as if from the ground, and is very flat across the bottom.

" "This could indicate there there is intelligent life below the ground and uses light as we do," Waring wrote on his website. "This is not a glare from the sun, nor is it an artifact of the photo process."

"On Tuesday, Slate.com's Bad Astronomy blog suggested that a UFO conspiracy site might not be the best source of information for exploring serious planetary phenomena. A more serious source of this light, said blogger Phil Plait, is that "a subatomic particle smacked into the camera, leaving behind its trail of energy." "

 

[exo_doc]

I was wondering about that, too.



On the face of it, yes - but what if the terrain is prohibitive?

Anyway, this is one of those exciting moments - the unknown, and trying to figure it all out.

I loved this mini series when it came out. I was a freshman in high school and had read The Martian Chronicles just the year before. It doesn't exactly follow the book, but for the time, it was wonderful.