Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Unusual Spheres on Mars

NASA ^ | September 25, 2012 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Why are these strange little spheres on Mars? The robotic rover Opportunity chanced across these unusually shaped beads earlier this month while exploring a place named Kirkwood near the rim of Mars' Endeavor Crater. 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. Although it is thought that these orbs formed naturally, which natural processes formed them remain unknown. Opportunity, an older sibling to the recently deployed Curiosity rover, will continue to study these spheres with the hope that they will provide a new clue to the ancient history of the surface of the red planet.

[smokingfrog]

Ooops. I must have dropped some peanuts the last time I was there.

[CrazyIvan]

No, but I remember how they sounded popping under a bicycle tire!

[mylife]

LOL!

[beethovenfan]

Martian doots.

[onyx]

Chocolate chips.

[SatinDoll]

There are deep sea floors on Earth where manganese has precipitated out into spherules, just like these.

It is possible that sometime in Mars past this was a sea floor on which something similiar occurred.

Just a speculation on my part, you all understand?

[FroggyTheGremlim]

Weep for the lost children...

[left that other site]

Martian Eggs.

[Blogatron]

They all look like... Charlie Brown.
MORE FACES ON MARS!

[BlueDragon]

Martian Eggs.

Close. more specifically, "weather balloon" larvae...

[left that other site]

hahahahahahahaha

[central_va]

Millions of dollars and we get grey scale photos?

[Vermont Lt]

Looks like what the rabbits leave on my lawn.

[sonofagun]

Looks like silidified molten rock that cooled falling through the atmosphere after, say, a meteor impact forming a crater of some sort.

[colorado tanker]

Millions of dollars and we get grey scale photos?

This is the old rover, Opportunity. Too bad Curiosity didn't find it - maybe its zapper/sniffer gear could have figured out what this is.

[colorado tanker]

Millions of dollars and we get grey scale photos?

This is the old rover, Opportunity. Too bad Curiosity didn't find it - maybe its zapper/sniffer gear could have figured out what this is.

[freebird5850]

Nothing more scary than a gigantic hairy fried egg that oozes acid and zooms through rock like we move through air.

There once was a restaurant on Mars. It closed however, said it had no "atmosphere" ;~).