I need someone's help in identifying this image taken on Mars by the Rover. I would appreciate if anyone can give me the link to the original photo in the NASA photo archives. Or tell me which rover or which sol?





Thanks,
Rohn

got any text info to go with this?

get your ass to mars.. i mean send a PM to MID or some of those eggheads in the 'did we go to the moon' topic (conspiracy & secret society sub-forum) but be ready for them to tell you it's nothing more than swamp gas refracted in a headlight that mimics the planet venus or some such

i'll play devils advocate here.. we don't really know the weather conditions (et al) of mars.. i mean, there are apparently pentagonal weather systems happening on jupiter & other planets, i can see something that looks 'unnatural' in this photo you provide.. but who's to say it isn't some freak weather occurance of the red planet?

it looks like an upside down slanted "T"
but there is a small irregularity (bump/nodule) in the bottom left corner part. (so there's at least some degree of 'natures randomness' if u get my drift, it's not as tho this thing is a perfect imprint of something.. but then there is the case of erosion etc.. i'll just shut up now, shall i?)

i think NASA are scamming us big-time but i'm just at a point where i want to be certain of the stuff (info) that comes down the line..

Hi Rohn,

This photo isn't from one of the rovers. It's actually a portion of photo SP243004 taken from orbit by the Mars Global Surveyor. Here are links to the original images:

NASA

Malin Space Science Systems (who operated the Mars Orbiter Camera onboard MGS)

Here's a lower-resolution Viking orbiter photograph showing an outline of the area covered by the high-resolution MGS photo:



The Viking photo shows more clearly that we're really looking at a valley in the surface here, not some sort of raised structure. I believe I've seen it identified as a collapsed lava tube.

Collapsed lava tube?
How do you account for the shadow being cast?
That dosen't sound like sunken ground to me.

it's not a tumor.. i mean collapsed lava tube..

That's what I thought too.
It definitely does not look like a valley.

Hi SOUL-DRIFTER,

Yep, it's definitely sunken ground. It's really hard to tell whether this is a raised area or a sunken area by just looking at the shape itself. I can make my eyes see it either way. Luckily, the links I provided above tell us where the sun is relative to the photo, and that piece of information nails it down.

By looking at the Sun Azimuth, North Azimuth, and Incidence Angle data on the MSSS link, we know that the sun is straight off the right-hand side of the image and relatively low in the sky (about 22 deg off the horizon). This gives us a situation something like this, as seen from above:




Now, with the sun off to the right, what would a valley look like, and what would a hill look like? Well, take a look at my diagram below:



If the object is a hill (or anything raised above ground level), the sun will be lighting up the right-hand side of the object. The left-hand side will be in shadow. For a valley or any other depression, the shadows are exactly opposite. The right-hand wall will be in shadow while the left-hand wall is sunlit.

For the object seen in the MGS photo, the right-hand edges are all in shadow. This tells us for certain that we're looking at some sort of depression in the ground, not a raised object.

To me it looks raised. I see that because of the straightness of the shadow on top and the curve of the shadow cast to the right. If something that casts a shadow curves, so will the shadow it casts. Its tip to the left also makes it look like a raise to me. The way it comes in and the shadow that it casts. Also how the shadow at the tip of the shape, top right. The way the left side of it reflects the sun. Also the details from the cliff seem to continue as if going undisturbed on a flat surface. The rock bottom left near the other peculiar shadow. The markings along the bottom of the shape.

Where is the source for the sun position?

It is really hard to make out, but yes I can also see it both ways. What piques me is why, the surface, whether raised or sunken, appears so smooth.

Pericynthion, thanks for id that photo. My mistake was looking in the Rover archives.


Rohn

You're welcome! Glad I could help. Luckily, I'd seen that shot before and knew it was from MGS, so it wasn't too hard to track down the ID.

Regards,

Pericynthion

After carefully examining all of the photos on the page, I have come to conclude that indeed it is raised and not a valley. Look in all shots for obvious boulders in the shots. Look at the shadows of those to show that the sun actually is coming from the left side of the photos and not the right side.

The best give away is that the bottom left of the protruding arm has a triangular shadow showing not far from the end. If the light was coming from the
right, that shadow would not be possible. Notice the obvious boulders in the far away shots and you can see that the sun is indeed coming from the left and not the right. God knows I tried to become a believer in the right side theory, but in the end the left side won out to make this a "raised" platform.