Floating spoonfound on Mars!

[kiwi1960]

But all is not what it seems... full story here, and sorry it its already been posted...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/71747895/is-that-a-floating-spoon-on-mars

[Scotius]

OK then - it's not a piece of martian silverware. But even if it is a natural formation, it is highly unusual. It's hard to believe natural erosion processes could sculpt something like that.

[Shpaget]

It's hard to believe natural erosion processes could sculpt something like that.

I find it perfectly easily believable.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/KharazaArch.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Im_Salar_de_Uyuni.jpg

http://www.globalgeopark.org/UploadFiles/2012_5_4/Alxa%20_B.jpg

We are obviously looking at some sort of layered rock. Such formation should not be mind boggling, especially when we don't know the scale.

[kiwi1960]

Even if 6 inches long, then the fact that it is only attached to one side and has nothing underneath it... wind could not have sculpted that is wouldn't have left anything hanging, right, in fact, the only way it could have been done is if there was water there.... or its artificial.. my money is on the water theory.

Yes, its annoying when these things don't have something to scale it to...

[Scotius]

All of these natural formations are impressive, all right. But nowhere you will find a pencil-thin cylindrical piece of hard rock, sticking out horizontally out of a layer of softer rock. On Earth it could be a fossilised bone, but on Mars? Weird.

[Shpaget]

http://images.summitpost.org/original/394819.JPG

http://images.summitpost.org/original/394853.JPG

http://www.nature.org/cs/groups/webcontent/@web/@hawaii/documents/media/hawaii-moomomi-wind-erosion.jpg

http://english.ts.cn/Travel/content/images/attachement/jpg/site2/20100721/0016eca4c78f0db0a0a807.jpg

Wind can most certainly do it. Water and wind erosion work on the same principle. If one can do it so can the other.

[vitekc45c]

This might be a low-orbit view of stone "bridge", an overhang or similar rock formation for all we know. Withouth a banana for scale its hard to tell.

[Kryten]

This might be a low-orbit view of stone "bridge", an overhang or similar rock formation for all we know. Withouth a banana for scale its hard to tell.

It's from an MSL image, it's a few cm across.

[Nuke]

obligatory 'there is no spoon'

[ChrisSpace]

There is no- ah dammit Nuke beat me to it!

[Dodgey]

Common guys. Can we at least try to keep the science labs, I don't know, scientific maybe.

[AngelLestat]

is hard to explain, for one side mars gravity is lower, so such projections may be more common than on earth.

If there was other kind of materials as a wooden stick in mars, it will be easy to explain.

The scale seems similar to a wooden spoon used to cocking. Of course I think it has a natural explanation, but the shape is one of the most particular from the others we saw so far.

[lajoswinkler]

It's obviously on a centimetre scale. I'll go with aeolic erosion.

[KerikBalm]

you can see a line going from the spoon into the rock

you can see another parallel line that also has a protruding projection

You can see multiple planes that have erosion in between them.

Its clearly just an eroded feature.

those lines may be a sort of "vein" in the softer rock like what you find on earth.

Possibly the vein formed in water, and then over time the softer rock around it eroded (most likely due to wind).

Its a cool formation, but its clearly a natural erosion process

[peadar1987]

It is also quite clearly attached at both ends, if you look closely. Simple aeolian erosion, forming an arch. No water erosion and low gravity means it's less likely to collapse.

[softweir]

It isn't even an arch. Our eyes tell us that, but looking closely I see it as a solid chunk of rock with several steps that produce shadows that - at that angle and that angle only - appear to our eyes as a floating spoon with a shadow underneath.

[AngelLestat]

It is also quite clearly attached at both ends, if you look closely. Simple aeolian erosion, forming an arch. No water erosion and low gravity means it's less likely to collapse.

It does not seem the case

[RainDreamer]

The end seems to broke off. Looks like they could fit together.

[vger]

That's a really neat formation, how it's that thin and juts out like that.

Makes me wonder if there's any natural bridges on Mars. Or anything similar to what can be found in Arizona.

[peadar1987]

It does not seem the case

http://images.jp.techtimes.com/data/images/full/11281/curiosity-rover-takes-photo-of-strange-looking-floating-spoon-on-mars.jpg?w=600

When zoomed in that far, it doesn't look like it's protruding at all. If it is, then why isn't there anything connecting the right-hand end of the shadow to the right-hand end of the "spoon"?

[RainDreamer]

I think we need a geologist in here. It looks like part of a swirly formation (non professional speak) with different types of materials on top of each others. Maybe someone more knowledgeable about this can tell what we are looking at and how it may have been formed.

[Tex_NL]

You don't need a geologist, you need a pragmatist!

There is no scale reference, nor is there a reliable source. This picture can be anything, anywhere and any when. For all we know it has been photo shopped. All we have here is a picture. Nothing more, nothing less.

[vger]

You don't need a geologist, you need a pragmatist! There is no scale reference, nor is there a reliable source. This picture can be anything, anywhere and any when. For all we know it has been photo shopped. All we have here is a picture. Nothing more, nothing less.

I wish these news sites could at least be bothered to link to the original source.

Regardless, if this was a photoshop, you'd have no trouble finding a source pointing that out.

[RainDreamer]

The source is here, from NASA: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=1089ML0048420010500151E01_DXXX&s=1089

I think we are seeing some weird perspective tricks...

Actually no, there is another spoon-like formation not far from the one in the image pointing at opposite direction, also jutting out of nowhere.

Edited September 9, 2015 by RainDreamer

[Tex_NL]

The source is here, from NASA: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=1089ML0048420010500151E01_DXXX&s=1089

...

OK. That's a reliable source. I am willing to accept that image as a genuine, unmanipulated Mars picture. But without further info it is still not nearly enough to draw any conclusions.

Here's another image of the same feature. It's less clear but the shadow of Curiosity's mast cam gives at least some notion of scale. The so called spoon looks very small and thin.