What the Hell Is This Weird Shiny Object on Mars?

[cali]

The Mars Curiosity Rover has been busy snapping photos (selfies too) of Mars and found something... strange. A small, shiny, metal-looking "protuberance" sticking out from the red planet. Is it some secret lever to open up a world where Martians exist? Or some random space junk? We don't know.

You can see it in the picture above and see it zoomed in on the bottom right hand corner. If you look carefully, you can even see the protuberance's shadow. Whatever it is, it looks a lot different from the red rock that it sits on. What in the hell?

People have suggested wild theories for the metal looking object but it's probably just some part of the rock that is less susceptible to erosion (compared to the rest of the surface). Or maybe it's a weird lighting trick that Curiosity is playing on us. Or a grave for a dying robot? Or who knows. The object, which is only half a centimeter tall, was found by the Curiosity Rover on January 30th, 2013. We might never know what it is.

<snip>

http://gizmodo.com/5982991/what-the-hell-is-this-weird-shiny-object-on-mars

[cbrer]

1. Fascinating!

Has NASA lost any toys in this quadrant of the Solar System?

[chuckstevens]

13. It's a rock.

[RudynJack]

47. Jesus Christ, Marie...

they're not rocks, they're minerals!

[gelsdorf]

2. I wonder, could it be the "Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator" n/t

[nc4bo]

25. **snort**

And that's all folks.

[Matariki]

59. !!! lol

btw, that's always my answer to hardware store dudes who ALWAYS ask "what's it for?" whenever I ask where something is.

[geckosfeet]

3. Probably some debris from a previous mission.

Oh no - we have flotsam on Mars already.

[Art_from_Ark]

9. Or it could be some sort of metallic ore

[geckosfeet]

16. There's gold in them there planets.

[geckosfeet]

29. Why? How many mars mission have there been?

[gadjitfreek]

4. Nobody has a theory, wild or otherwise.

They might have guesses, flights of fancy or otherwise but they don't have theories. A theory is a scientific proposition that has masses of independently confirmed support behind it. While I am also pretty intrigued by this apparent piece of metal, it IS near a crater, which was caused by a meteor, which are composed largely of nickel and iron...and in a non-oxidizing atmosphere we should expect to find shiny meteor fragments within shouting distance of craters. No real mystery. Let's not perpetuate mis-use of the word "theory"...that way lies the Dover trials. Since we can't actually perform the tests we need to discover what this object might be, we may never have an actual "theory", only speculation like my explanation, above.

[Victor_c3]

5. I'm sure that Richard Hoagland and his people are going to be having a field day with this

I like reading his stuff and it would be fascinating if any portion of it turned out to be actually true but, unfortunately, I think most of it is just plain off.

He had published theories that the moon of mars Phobos is actually the remnants of an space craft made by some ancient civilization and he has done a lot of analysis of various images of the face on Mars' surface. Then there is a whole ton of stuff that he says about the moon being littered with artifacts from an ancient space-faring civilization.

There is a lot of weird and unexplained things out there, but I hardly believe the whole ancient aliens thing. I think that we severely underestimate the intelligence and ingenuity of our ancient ancestors, but I don't think that they had lasers and levitation devices. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that some groups had a firm grasp of mechanical engineering and some (basic) chemistry aspects (i.e electroplating) going way further back than we commonly believe.

[justiceischeap]

6. It's a martian space suit foot

[BainsBane]

7. space trash

there is tons of it. They probably left some on the surface or in the atmosphere.

[TheManInTheMac]

8. Flattened out beer can.

[Berlum]

10. You nailed it !

[Blue Gardener]

11. Excalibur!

Has to be

[ChisolmTrailDem]

49. Damn. And I thought I was going to be uniquely clever. You beat me to it =) eom

[AsahinaKimi]

12. Its a remnant from

Coast to Coast AM with ART BELL... SOMEONE call Richard C. Hoagland!

[d_r]

14. I can't find my keys anywhere nt

[malthaussen]

15. Wait until it digs out the sign that says "Do not pull lever" n/t

[aandegoons]

17. Probably a diamond.

Now the federal government will give Halliburton 1.2 trillion dollars to go to mars to mine it. And for a reward for all their hard work and investment Halliburton will be able to claim all mining rights on mars.

[jdadd]

18. Bender's "Shiney Metal Ass".

Last edited Sun Feb 10, 2013, 10:44 PM - Edit history (1)

[MannyGoldstein]

19. LOL!

You forgot an apostrophe.

But still funny.

[VOX]

20. Dick Cheney's heart.

Bionic, and pacemaker-ed by satellite remote. Developed by Halliburton using your tax dollars.

[rateyes]

21. It's Saddam Hussein's marker showing where he buried his WMDs.

At least that is Condi Rice's explanation.

[Junkdrawer]

22. Last remnants of an unsuccessful Venusian invasion of Mars.

Done in by Martian microbes.

[Dash87]

24. Some kind of mineral ore, I bet.

Could also be from a meteorite. Very interesting!

[AllyCat]

26. Space junk? Looks like a hammer.

[theKed]

37. A hammer?

Mjolnir!

[randome]

40. I don't know. The Cosmic Cube can disguise itself pretty well.

So it could be anything. Even a rock polished by erosion! You can't trust the Cube!

[theKed]

42. By that logic

it could be a hidden skrull.

Wait. Oh my god...it could be a hidden skrull!

[Major Nikon]

27. Looks like a gear shifter knob I once had

I always wondered what happened to it.

[Fuddnik]

28. They found my wife's lost car keys.

[randome]

30. It's one of Iran's deep space probes.

What remains of the monkey is underneath.

[Buzz Clik]

31. Swamp gas. Reflecting the light.

[kestrel91316]

32. Looks like glass rather than metal to me, and according to NASA

it's about 5 mm long. Tiny little geologic process remnant.

[Victor_c3]

33. I don't have a very firm grasp on ores and how they form

but, aside from some of the noble metals (gold and platinum), I don't think that most metals form naturally in a metallic looking state. They are bound up in ores that look more like crappy rocks than shiny metals.

There has been tons of volcanic activity on Mars in its past and I wouldn't be surprised if it was some sort of volcanic glass.

If the robot has any sort of XRF device, it'd be able to tell you in a matter of seconds what exactly the elemental makeup of the thing pictured is.

[Lurker Dave]

34. It's a Decepticon, obviously.

Mean robots suck.

[Eddie Haskell]

35. It's a door knob,

and that rock is a door. They live underground because they fear the spread of America's culture.

[underpants]

36. It's a Ron Paul sign

[theKed]

38. According to government officials

A weather balloon.

[Fawke Em]

39. .

[undeterred]

41. My lost cell phone.

I don't remember anything about that night.

[JHB]

46. ...but it DOES explain the roaming charges on that last bill...

If you think you're carrier's bad, Mars Mobile makes them all look like pikers.

[Bosonic]

43. What did one Martian say to the other Martian?

[hfojvt]

44. it's a quarter

that the 20% put up there to distract the canaille.

[JHB]

45. Unlike Buck Rogers, Roger Buck went BACK 500 years...

...his adventures were not nearly as entertaining, and did not end well.

[randome]

54. A very short-lived adventure, I would assume!

[many a good man]

48. Elvis' cufflink

Don't ask me how I know.

[OldDem2012]

50. It's a periscope...."they" are watching us VERY carefully. nt.

[Tom Ripley]

51. It's the girl with the mousey hair wearing a suit of armor

[krispos42]

52. Looks like Johnny 5's hanging out

[tavernier]

53. Ask Wolowitz.

Wasn't he the last one to drive the rover?

[randome]

55. "It's a trap!"

[Tree-Hugger]

56. David Bowie's make-up case

Ziggy played guitaaaaaaaarrrrrrr.

[ladjf]

57. Possible pure metal of some kind from an earlier vulcan period. nt

[HiPointDem]

58. looks like two beercan butts.