[meteorite-list] Possible Meteorites in the Martian Hills

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Jul 10 17:15:03 2006
Message-ID: <200607102112.OAA26484_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/images/mer-20060710.html

Possible Meteorites in the Martian Hills
July 10, 2006

[This vertical mosaic of images shows a slope draped with ripples of sand
moving up]

>From its winter outpost at "Low Ridge" inside Gusev Crater, NASA's Mars
Exploration Rover Spirit took this spectacular, color mosaic of hilly,
sandy terrain and two potential iron meteorites. The two light-colored,
smooth rocks about two-thirds of the way up from the bottom of the frame
have been labeled "Zhong Shan" and "Allan Hills."

The two rocks' informal names are in keeping with the rover science
team's campaign to nickname rocks and soils in the area after locations
in Antarctica. Zhong Shang is an Antarctic base that the People's
Republic of China opened on Feb. 26, 1989, at the Larsemann Hills in
Prydz Bay in East Antarctica. Allan Hills is a location where
researchers have found many Martian meteorites, including the
controversial ALH84001, which achieved fame in 1996 when NASA scientists
suggested that it might contain evidence for fossilized extraterrestrial
life. Zhong Shan was the given name of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925),
known as the "Father of Modern China." Born to a peasant family in
Guangdong, Sun moved to live with his brother in Honolulu at age 13 and
later became a medical doctor. He led a series of uprisings against the
Qing dynasty that began in 1894 and eventually succeeded in 1911. Sun
served as the first provisional president when the Republic of China was
founded in 1912.

The Zhong Shan and Allan Hills rocks, at the left and right,
respectively, have unusual morphologies and miniature thermal emission
spectrometer signatures that resemble those of a rock known as "Heat
Shield" at the Meridiani site explored by Spirit's twin, Opportunity.
Opportunity's analyses revealed Heat Shield to be an iron meteorite.

Spirit acquired this approximately true-color image on the rover's 872nd
Martian day, or sol (June 16, 2006), using exposures taken through three
of the panoramic camera's filters, centered on wavelengths of 600
nanometers, 530 nanometers, and 480 nanometers.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

+ High resolution JPEG
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08576
Received on Mon 10 Jul 2006 05:12:35 PM PDT