[meteorite-list] Meteor Observed By Mars Rover

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Jun 29 19:54:49 2004
Message-ID: <200406292353.QAA01774_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html

Mars Mystery Solved!
Leonard David
space.com
June 28, 2004

Of the many intriguing observations taken by the Mars rovers, one of
the most interesting was not of the surrounding geology. Rather, it
was an image of the martian atmosphere. Caught in action was
something streaking through the sky.

At first, Mars scientists operating the rovers thought the fast
moving, caught-on-camera curiosity was a spacecraft -- perhaps an
aging Viking Orbiter still circling the red planet.

"The initial thought was that little streak in the sky was an old
relic spacecraft. There's a lot of junk in orbit around Mars,"
said Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and
principal investigator for the Athena science payload toted on each
of the Mars rovers.
 
But a research group in France came up with the real story, Squyres
reported at the American Astronomical Society meeting held earlier
this month. The study group took a look at predicted times and
radiance for meteor showers at Mars. Turns out, the Spirit rover
image was snapped during one of those showers, he said.

"The orientation of the streak in the sky matches the radiant for
that shower to within a fraction of a degree. So we've seen a
martian meteor," Squyres said.
Received on Tue 29 Jun 2004 07:53:21 PM PDT