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PIA06778: 'Blueberries' and 'Popcorn'
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity examined a type of rougher-textured, lighter-colored round pebbles related to the smoother, darker spherules nicknamed 'blueberries' inside 'Endurance Crater' on Mars.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 
 Spacecraft:  Opportunity
 Instrument:  Microscopic Imager 
 Product Size:  2044 x 2006 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA06778.tif (4.105 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA06778.jpg (668.6 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

figure 1 for PIA06778
Figure 1

This view from the microscopic imager on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows a type of light-colored, rough-textured spherules scientists are calling "popcorn" in contrast to the darker, smoother spherules called "blueberries." The spherules seen here are on the part of a rock named "Bylot" indicated in a panoramic camera image (see PIA06777). This magnified view confirmed the existence of blueberries partially coated in the popcorn material. This mosaic was assembled from four microscopic imager frames taken on sol 199 (Aug. 15, 2004). The yellow rectangle indicates the portion of this view shown in a tighter view (see PIA06779).

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS

Image Addition Date:
2004-08-18