PIA05586: 'Blueberry' Triplets Born in Rock


‘Blueberry’ Triplets Born in Rock

Caption:

This microscopic image, taken at the outcrop region dubbed "Berry Bowl" near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site, shows the sphere-like grains or "blueberries" that fill Berry Bowl. Of particular interest is the blueberry triplet, which indicates that these geologic features grew in pre-existing wet sediments. Other sphere-like grains that form in the air, such as impact spherules or ejected volcanic material called lapilli, are unlikely to fuse along a line and form triplets. This image was taken by the rover's microscopic imager on the 46th martian day, or sol, of its mission.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
Instrument Host Opportunity (MER-B)
Host Type Rover
Instrument Microscopic Imager (MI)
Detector
Extra Keywords Grayscale, Impact, Volcano
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2004-03-18
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05586
Identifier PIA05586