PIA05207: Mars Under the Microscope
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows a magnified view of coarse grains sprinkled over a fine layer of sand in Meridiani Planum on Mars.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 
 Spacecraft:  Opportunity
 Instrument:  Microscopic Imager 
 Product Size:  1024 x 1024 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05207.tif (1.05 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05207.jpg (374.5 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:
This magnified look at the martian soil near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site, Meridiani Planum, shows coarse grains sprinkled over a fine layer of sand. The image was captured by the rover's microscopic imager on the 10th day, or sol, of its mission. Scientists are intrigued by the spherical rocks, which can be formed by a variety of geologic processes, including cooling of molten lava droplets and accretion of concentric layers of material around a particle or "seed."

The examined patch of soil is 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) across. The circular grain in the lower left corner is approximately 3 millimeters (.12 inches) across, or about the size of a sunflower seed.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/US Geological Survey

Image Addition Date:
2004-02-04