Mars Curiosity Rover grabs stunning image of a wind-carved rock on the surface of Mars.

[kpete]

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=4AU_lySSafcQ3EPsVhxEMQ

[Bayard]

1. Ehhhh........

Looks kind of purposeful. Could be a goose laying down from one end, a whale from the other end.

Assuming Mars has neither of those creatures, it must be this:

[barbtries]

16. i saw a shoe,

just solid.

[lame54]

22. A goose

[MineralMan]

2. I wonder what the scale of that is.

It looks like a sculpture.

[2naSalit]

6. First thing I want to know.

How big is it?

[MineralMan]

8. Exactly. The photo is worthless without some scale.

[2naSalit]

10. A bit of an aside but similar point...

I am an active "rock hound" and was out in +55F temps, on the gravel bars in the river this weekend, found an interesting *specimen. Some of my cohorts are in other states, I was describing this specimen to one of them generating a request for a picture or two. Scale is important and we often use a coin or something with a standard size to compare, so I took some photos using a quarter.

* Appears to be a pictograph on a cobblestone, all the same color, different shades. The pigments used in this region, and possibly the continent, are normally red, white and ochre, rarely is green found. This stone seems to have one figure using two shades of green on a green stone. I have seen these colors and figures used in pictographs about two hundred miles east, down river, from here... very mysterious. I am hoping to have it assessed.

[caraher]

13. I think it's fairly small

I found it in a larger mosaic

It's just left of center in the image. While parts of the rover do give some sense of scale, it's also clear that the image has a lot of distortion that makes it challenging to know just how large a distant object is compared to foreground elements.

[progressoid]

3. yeah...

[WarGamer]

9. damn i posted almost an identical reply lol...

[progressoid]

12. Have you seen the show Resident Alien?

He did a cameo as himself in season 1, episode 9.

&t=53s

https://www.syfy.com/syfy.com/resident-alien-giorgio-tsoukalos-ancient-aliens-interview

[Hugin]

4. Yow!

[lagomorph777]

5. Driving around in that harsh place for nearly 10 years.

I imagine the warrantee must be expired by now!

[WarGamer]

7. yeah!!! As if... don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

[Blues Heron]

11. Cosmic Noguchi

very cool

[AverageOldGuy]

14. If they say so . . .

. . . I guess it's a wind-cared rock if that's what the experts say. However, to me it looks like something purposefully done. Maybe not a rock but a piece of pottery left by an ancient Martian civilization.

[johnp3907]

15. Loch Ness Monster.

We all know she vacations there.

[aeromanKC]

17. Martian Cinderella

[uponit7771]

18. What is that to the lower right?! More wind carved rock in the middle of sand?

[NQAS]

19. The Martians must be getting a kick out of this

Hey, guys, how about we sculpt something that looks like something you might find on that big blue marble?

They're now sitting back and having a good laugh.

[kairos12]

20. that's a duck decoy.

[bluecollar2]

21. It's clearly not a wind carved stone...anyone

Can see it's a petrified Martian tadpole.

[global1]

23. Doesn't Look Wind Carved To Me.....

Do we have wind carved rocks like this on earth that look anything like this?

[eppur_se_muova]

24. Google wind erosion and choose "images"

Keep in mind Mars' atmosphere is *much* thinner than Earth's and gravity is lower, so nothing will look identical.