A wierd white rock seems surprisingly misplaced on the Crimson Planet.
A more in-depth take a look at the rock noticed by the Perseverance rover on Mars. That is an improved model of mosaic, supposed to enhance visible distinction and spotlight coloration variations. Credit score: NASA.
NASA’s Perseverance rover, which has been on Mars since February 2021, just lately discovered a light-colored rock on the floor of Mount Washburn, a hill inside Jezero Crater. The rock measures 18 by 14 inches (45 by 35 centimeters), and is now referred to as “Atoko Level” as a result of it resembles, in coloration, a cliff of the identical identify throughout the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
However whereas the bottom portion consists of limestone, a sedimentary rock, Atoko point on the red planet It consists of pyroxene and feldspar, that are parts of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Researchers have supplied two concepts about this distinctive discovery. Both the rocks fashioned elsewhere and have been transported to Jezero Crater way back by a Martian river, or they fashioned underground and ultimately made their approach to the floor.
The science crew chargeable for Perseverance’s feats have been seeking to examine all kinds of rocks on Mount Washburn. It represents a “geological goodie bag,” however it was Atoko Level that stood out, says co-leader Brad Jarzynski of Western Washington College.
Once I first noticed the picture of Atuku Level, I believed it resembled the light-colored interiors of lots of the meteorites in my assortment. For instance, the inside of Camille Dunga, which fell on the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia, appears eerily comparable. Actually, its primary minerals are pyroxene and plagioclase, a sort of feldspar, the identical parts that make up Atuku Level. The Camel Dunga is assessed as an eucrite, a sort of meteorite that may be a fragment of the asteroid 4 Vesta.
