An iron meteorite is the latest quarry for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
The rover's cameras revealed the meteorite on its trek to its long-term destination, Endeavour crater, in images taken on Sol 2363 (September 16, 2010), the 2,363rd Martian day of the rover's mission on Mars. This view was taken with the navigation camera on Sol 2368 (September 21, 2010), after a drive the preceding sol to get close to the rock. The meteorite is about half a meter (20 inches) long. The scene appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left.
The science team used two tools on Opportunity's arm -- the microscopic imager and the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer -- to inspect the rock's texture and composition. The team informally named the rock "Oileán Ruaidh" (pronounced ay-lan ruah), which is the Gaelic name for an island off the coast of northwestern Ireland.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Note: Click here to see some normal photos of the meteorite. For an earlier photo and story about the meteorite, see
Mars Rover Opportunity Approaching Possible Meteorite.
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