Overheard: What are those shiny objects on Mars?
Editor's note: This post is part of the Overheard on CNN.com series, a regular feature that examines interesting comments and thought-provoking conversations posted by the community.
Last week, NASA scientists announced that the Mars rover Curiosity had found something unexpected: small bright objects. These one-millimeter flecks didn't appear to originate from the rover, but rather from Mars itself. They could be part of the soil forming process, or they could be minerals cut in particular ways that make them look shiny in sunlight.
More than 550 people commented on this story. Most people had fun guessing what the shiny objects might be.
John writes:
My first guess would be some sort of silica particles. If you look at sand formed from weathered quartz, there will be lots of small, bright reflections.
And then there were perhaps less likely explanations: Several commenters joked that the objects are the hidden secrets of President Obama and Mitt Romney. On the other hand, Howard wrote, "The first thing that popped into my mind when I read that headline was, 'beer can pop-tops!'"
"It's Martian poop!" wrote vatossan. Major Tom claimed to have "dropped some loose change" there - "Sorry if I caused any confusion," he wrote.
Oneal wrote:
One may wonder what kind and what amount of natural resources it would take for Mars colonization timetable to be a priority of humanity. Very interesting time to be alive. Even if researchers find something there's no way to get there and back with a haul of martian natural gas that will exist in my lifetime. Still, its pretty cool!
There are even some people who still believe that no one ever landed on Mars or the moon for that matter, such as Big Al:
They have never landed on the Moon, and Curiosity rover never landed on Mars, either. Such images are either from the Western Desert (Egypt) and/or the Death Valley, Nevada, U.S.A.
Some people were optimistic and supportive of NASA’s efforts: Blmarcus wrote:
Can I just say that with all the news of war, death, asinine campaign bickering, and general badness, these photos by the Curiosity and NASA's work in general are an inspiring oasis. It is incredible to see new pictures of Mars and learn about it on a regular, if not daily, basis. When you consider that the Iraq War cost *at least* $757.8 billion, then $2.6 billion to explore Mars and NOT kill anyone is a bargain. Thank you NASA, the US government, and the American taxpayer for these genuinely happy moments in my day.
But of course, you will always have those who don’t think that Curiosity, or NASA as a whole, is worth the money put into it. “Meh” brought some sarcasm to the conversation:
Wow, small shiny things on Mars...I wish we had something like that on Earth.
I love the fact that we're exploring Mars but the media just cant be silent if there's nothing to say.
CNN's Elizabeth Landau contributed to this report.
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Very intriguing! What if Mars was civilized billions of years ago and let’s just say that there was a change in the rotation of the hold solar system, let’s say we took Mar’s spot and instead we came to be. Let’s just say that this rotation happens every period of time and that our days are counted for the next civilization of the next planet to take our spot in the universe. Uhh! Uhhh! That would be a great movie too!
Yes that would be an interesting scifi movie concept....there is scientic evidence that our planet once switched it's polar hemispheres so this scenario is possible too. Who knows, we may be on limited time so live it well!!
ummm...the earth has switched its poles many times. its a constant cycle
mars is only a few billion years old...most of that time the planet would be inhospitable while forming
mars is only a few million years old. most of that time would be inhospitable as the planet formed
oops "not millions" billions
I remember back in the 1970's when I was a kid reading a paper about how the Garden of Eden was actually Mars and that is why it is lifeless now. Funny how I just remembered that.
DIAMONDS!!!.....LOL , If it were we'd be on the way within a couple of years...
My first thought was who spit their gum out on the ground where the rover could run over it? Next thought: Can ya spit that far? ;-0
Just kidding I am curious a little about it.
It's Kryptonite. Has anybody ever seen Superman anywhere near Mars? Of course not – there's too much Kryptonite there and he'd get weak and falll right out of the sky. Then he'd just lay there until he starved or something. But – Superman is too smart for that! He stays away from Mars. See? It's Kryptonite.
My Precious!
Looks like a little nugget of gold.
Very probable as there are no humans on Mars to collect what lays on the ground.
Diamonds are there too, I would look around and in the Olympic Mons.
Machines can get it for us, load it umto a magnetic sling and sling it into an area of the ocean were we can recover it.
I see dead people... uh.. underneath the martian dirt.
It will be amazing how quickly NASA gets motivated to send human to Mars if those objects are found to be platinum, gold or diamonds
Diamonds are common, inexpensive to manufacture and artificially supply controlled to create price. Not to mention they are carbon – one of the most common elements on Earth. Precious metals such as gold and platinum have very little real use, outside of a form of currency (platinum could have use as a catalyst for hydrogen energy one day).
Why exactly would NASA and private parties invest billions into bringing worthless materials back to this planet? If we are going to Mars, it's to get the hell off this planet before some nut job destroys the planet with nuke/bio weapons. It's about hedging our bets for the survival of our species, not some Scrooge McDuck fantasy.
Gold and platinum are used in semiconductors and microelectronics. If you don't think those are important, try posting on these forums without the use of a computer or smart phone/tablet.
Gold is needed for electronics and the space industry, so is platinum. Therefore not worthless and not just for currency. The US isn't even tied to the gold standard anymore.
gold and platnum have very little use!!??
Yeah right! Gold and platnum are widely used in electronics applications due to their conductive properties. Diamonds are used in industrial applications.... Someone didnt pay attention in school, lol.
Doesn't matter what they are made of. The shipping costs to get it back to earth outweigh the worth of any material it might be.
I don't think your comments about platinum are correct at all. Platinum is currently used in many places in industry. Platinum is also important as a potential metal for use in biological implants as it is biologically friendly.
HOLY C!!@@! ... thought I was the only one seeing things, I saw the hand before I even read that others were seeing it too. Bottom left, there is a thumb sticking upward and the rest of the fingers are curled upward
In the photo the earth on Mars looks damp or wet and dark brown....as though it would be fertile soil. That shiny thing you see in the photo is one of my teeth. I'm a Martian and a Venusian knocked it out during a flag mudball game.
That object is the lost Bayonet of Romney.
Shiny mars rocks.
All kidding aside, look at the rocks. Seriously guys, where else could it have come from?
Where else could what have come from?
It's Gold, GOLDddddd I tellya, there is gold in them thar hills...and plenty of it....
Pure research ALWAYS PAYS OFF. It is never a mistake to explore or to research. Most advances in medicine and science are found by people looking for something else.
After extensive research it has been revealed this is actually the fabled 6th golden ticket...Willy Wonka you sly dog you.
Looks like crack.
Silver bullets from Jimmy Hoffa's body.
They finally found Jimmy Hoffa.
LOLOL!!!
When you look long and hard at this picture, you'll go bananas.
Iron Pyrite seems the most likely candidate. If the images spectrum is correct, then because of ferric oxide like coloring of the soil, it seems likely that there is significant iron in the soil. Even if the composition of Mars and of Earth were very different to start, I wonder if differences in mass and in tectonic activity would have resulted in Mars being richer in heavy metals and atoms in its outer crust than the Earth is.
Thanks, Richard. Your post seemed to be far too reasonable and scientifically literate for this forum. Just read some of the other posts. Sheesh.
That looks a lot like my missing tooth, so that's where the toothfairy must have dropped it.
ITS ANOTHER GOLDEN TICKET....GET OPA UP...LOL
You'd think NASA would recognize "Pixie Dust" when they see it!
Or something that just fell off of Rover .
I know what these are! During the first debate, Mitt hit Obumbler so hard he knocked out his gold teeth and they ended up on the red planet.
Keep loving him at your home as we don't need him..........
Um, under our current failed administration, NASA has to rely on the Russians to get men to the space station. Thank you Obama.
Draxta... Due to past administration.... our troops migrated to middle east......can any american clean 8 yrs mess in 4 yrs? better help then bark....
@Draxta... the decision to end the space shuttle program was made in 2004
You poor dems sound all the same; pathetic and sad, still clinging to the mast of the failed and sinking ship called "hope."
You "love" Mitt? Are you his hidden second wife? We know you are out there, senorita.
I understand that a Hershey kiss bag was accidently dropped by a worker when they assembled the rover. They thought they recovered them all, but as the photo shows, one slipped by.
If they're diamonds, a manned mission to Mars will suddenly become feasible by 2014.
You greatly overestimate the importance of diamond. We can make diamonds.
I also see a hand buried.
Try out....
Move back 2 feet from your screen....
Concentrate at the center and move your eyes to left lower half.....
Now can I say woman who was buried there was were a gold jewelry?
Those are broken egg shells.
wow hence proved... now I know where easter eggs go....
Wow, almost as bad as a Yahoo story.
visible pure gold would appear on Mars just as it does on earth. And no doubt there is gold on Mars. Therefore, it is most likely gold.
Photoshop or Gold?
Aw, "NASA" is one of those lumnuts who think the whole thing's faked. That's adorable! I bet you have a complete set of conspiracy theories.
For any goat grass is more important then gold.... we better take care of earth then mars....
as for sure we know grass here is real and not fake.......
Flecks of mica?
Perhaps, there is gold in them there hills!
Shhh. Just like the lunar landing; it's part of the diorama we weren't supposed to see.
"diorama" You conservatives are hilarious! You believe a virgin had a baby, but not that a rocket reached Mars.
LOL! Amen!
All that equipment and it's still a mystery, huh? Fat chance. We don't get to know what it is until a plausible story can be made up. Someone call Mulder and Skully.
C'mon... it's obviously Seagull poop
Shattered bayonets from wars in the distant future with them Earthlings.
Its a piece of debris left by a chinese rover that was there a few years earler..
Looks like a discarded cigarette pack.
Can NASA send a probe to Italy next? I hear there are some strange things being seen on that world too.
Its a Diamond which was lost from a ring belonging to a mars martian women 🙂
Just want to know who or what is cleaning the solar panels of Opportunity rover...? The reason is because it exceeded its planned 90 day duration of activity by 8 years, 180 days... Who's giving a hand for us ? I don't think at all NASA would blow a estimating like this...?
Also why loads of pictures of Opportunity and Spirit are Blacked out ?
Its actually mostly luck. Opportunity's solar panels fluctuate in their wattage production as the amount of dust covering them fluctuates. If you find and read mission updates, there are occasional "cleaning events" which is nothing more than wind blowing the dust off the panels. Needless to say, the power production of panels is much lower today than it was when the rovers first landed. Through clever cycling of instruments and powering off some of them permanently, Opportunity is able to continue operating below its designed maximum power draw.
Yeah..right !! Let's see if someone has a convincing answer for the blacked out pictures...
"Just want to know who or what is cleaning the solar panels of Opportunity rover...?" There are weird little mini-whirlwinds at dusk, which generate enough wind to clean the panels. A stroke of real luck for once.
off course..!! Love the explanations...lol. This UFO and Extraterrestrial life cover up policy is collapsing... Know this ...many countries are releasing official military files about this UK (Just check the National Archives), France, Russia, China, Brazil, Chile, ..... Why to live in denial, in a bubble ? It's just a matter of time for THE undeniable event to happen.. Keep on mocking and laughing..
Dear Alan Page,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
Sincerely,
Bo Duke
Dear Bo,
Stop playing ostrich pluck out your had from the hole and read this... This thing is here to stay Buddy. The truth is too great for many of us...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8520486.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19702652
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNES
Kind Regards
It looks like gold...let's look for more of the shinny rocks, they would be easy pickings
Hasn't anyone ever seen Total Recall? It's turbidium, people! Whatever you do, don't let anyone by the name of Cohagen see this picture... we all know what'll happen. Mutants, Kuato insurgency, crippling air shortages, etc.
"See you at the party Rictor!"
Typical, Martian trash caught littering again. What do you expect from Martians?
There goes the neighborhood.
It's a beer tab. It's probably ancient.
so when is the billion dollar gadget going to clue us in?
There's gold in them thar hills !!!!
Get the prospectin' gear Ma, we're a'goin' to Mars !
If you look to the the right of the white shiny object you wil see the photo of an old lady. She is the first "martian" caught by a camera...
Instead of "creating" articles rehashing what we all say in comments, how about saving the bandwidth or better yet giving us articles about actual news via the probe, or maybe get in touch with some geologists to get some educated guesses about this.
It's called humor. Some of us could use a laugh to get through our day. Go troll the political section if you want to be a growly bear. Oh, have a nice day.
Or you could find mission posts on your own from the JPL site: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
Looks like Gold to me - wouldn't that be something - you'll have folks linging up in the thousands to go there LOL. Maybe it's an offshore stash for Mit.
"a regular feature that examines interesting comments and thought-provoking conversations posted by the community."
You're kidding, right? Neither interesting nor thought-provoking. Ignorant, yes. Typical attempts at starting a political flame-war? Yes. But little else.
It's an IQ enhancement probe from the sky-gods. That's how intelligent life started on Earth when a dumb monkey touched one of those and became smart. They are found throughout the universe.
What they are not telling you is that the last visitors to Mars dropped their keys. No, we don't know who they were, but they were driving a compact that got even better mileage than ours. So they must be quite advanced.
Or perhaps it was the Chinese. You know those crafty devils know how to keep a secret.
Or Romney's driver dropped his keys when they were there looking for somewhere else to export our manufacturing jobs.
Looks like part of a turtles skeleton.
OH A SHINY
Shout "GOLD!" and the republicans will get real interested REAL FAST in space exploration again.
Funny but also sad on sooooo many levels
Gold would have to be 20,000$ an ounce before it was profitable. Therefore only a Liberal would spend the money to go mine it.
I see something different. Not a separate shiny object, but the exposed interior of the object that angles away from the "shiny" surface. It appears to me that what we're seeing is the brighter, yellowish face of the broken end of that object, which has a traingular cross-section at that point. It could be that these small pebbles, grains or objects have weathered surfaces and the rover movement or other action has broken a few of them, exposing their interiors.
I guess again, the Crab creatures from the movie "Apollo 18"! Let take it into the LM and be eaten alive!
I was actually hoping that the post new what this shiny object is.
My guess is that it is some kind of crystal that formed by a meteorite impact
I guess Gold! If it is there will another "Rush" like in the 1800's and early 1900's. Image a whole new World to destory for it.
it's a piece of a wrapper from a Little Debbies Brownie
Told you before, they live in the rocks. You must have caught one by accident with your photo.....
It's a gold anniversary pull tab.
I believe here is where Jimmy Hoffa was buried, and the shiny object is one of his finger rings, after all we all are guessing here.
Boy, you can tell Hoffa's been in the news lately.
What is more interesting is the context of 'earth' around it(or would it called 'mars' instead of ground or dirt?). Its appears as sand with deposits of gravel and small medium 'rounded' rocks indicating the rocks and gravel have had some soft of past movement to make them rounded. Maybe water caused even( as in H2O). Where these is water- life is a few elements away.
Imagine the sudden increase in interest by people in high places if they found lots of hydrocarbons (oil).
Maybe its a Quarter....
It's actually the tip on one of c3po's fingers... desperately trying to dig his way out of the sand... 🙂
It's a shame that people do not understand how their everyday life has improved because of NASA... The investment has been well worth it!!!
Take a few moments to google this...
Really? What have the poor benefited?
The poor have indeed benefitted from NASA research. Now the poor don't have to tie thier shoes... they can use velcro!
You can't be serious. Poor people don't have cell phones or digital electronics. I'd go on, but responding to stupidity is usually pointless.
My bad. There should be a '?' after 'electronics'.
TANG!!!
A lot of the tech that lets us fix bad hearts came from space travel, and a lot of miniaturization and failsafing came from exptended missions. But you guys are only interested in Jersey Shore, right?
Godiva chocolates.
WOOOT IM FAMOUS
That, and $4.50 will get you a latte at Starbuck's.
FeS2
Pyrite!
Let it be gold and see how fast the next Mars expedition takes to get there? Or how soon the Discovery Channel starts the Next Season of Gold Rush from Mars.
"I love the fact that we're exploring Mars but the media just cant be silent if there's nothing to say."
Even better is the guy with nothing to say commenting about the media having nothing to say.
Dont be hatin' just because I got noticed and you are simply nothing in this universe
No one is interested in why the soil looks wet??????
Looks like moisture to me...
Magma pellets mixed with sea/river-sand like soil polished the rock to make it shine...
Whatever it is, Mars did not make it by itself.
It had help.
I bet it was Jupiter...never trusted that planet.
I still say, I don't care what it is, shoot it with the laser!
Yes! Shoot first, ask questions later!
Maybe they should be wondering why there is deer poop on mars... Look at what is surrounding the bright fleck. 🙂
Who cares... and what are you really doing with my money? I can't believe this is what we came all this distance to do.
I care. And I could say the same thing about spending money on war. You feel better now?
I'm just saying that I think this is a way of keeping us focused on one thing... while they do something else. We're not really here about the white flecks in the gravel are we?
So what is it that we are really doing?
"We're not really here about the white flecks in the gravel are we?"
and the diamond workers in Africa are saying : "We're not really here about the shiny flecks in the gravel are we?"
I guess because no one's been enslaved or murdered for the stuff on mars (yet) it's not worth it. Hmmm, interesting.
"So what is it that we are really doing?" Looking for tiny flecks of tin, as a source for your foil hat....
Uh oh...Paul is concocting some kind of conspiracy theory as I write this. Please read up on things before you start making rediculous assumptions. They didn't go there to find shiney flecks. They found them and are asking a question because its interesting. They just got there. Ultimately they are looking for signs of microbial life and sources of water to be used for manned missions which would then lead to all kinds of possibilities including potential colonies. Does that answer your question?
How long we been there now???? More than just a few days. I think they are doing something else that they are not showing us.
Your money? Are you in the 1% club?
It's Jimmy Hoffa's cufflink.
i just did zoom in on this image and it looks like a small tiny creature with big black eyes and two legs, big body with tiny head... did anyone see that?? shocking! is this the first evidence of life on mars?
Dilithium for sure
That's beautiful!
The bright Shiny object is a Alien WMD do not pick it up... LOL
Yup I took a closer look at the picture, It seems Bill Gates ran out of room under his matress.
There's GOLD in them thar hills ! Hitch up the mules, mama, we're movin' to MARS !!!
There was an interesting article in the old magazine Omni back in the '80's about what and how long it would take to make Mars habitable. Start with protective pods to live in and gradually introduce hardier and hardier vegetation, starting with plants that exist in low temp, low oxygen environment such as at the tops of mountains. Slowly, an atmosphere more conducive to human life would emerge. I'd like to read that again given what is now happening.
Maybe it's a bone fragment or a fossil!
Lets see:
1. Metal from rover.
2. Mabye some gum wrappers...
3. Could be some sort of shiny rock.
4. It might be some typer of debri from space.
5. Somthing from the astroid belt...
6. A piece from a nearbye space cafe.
7. Tops of soda cans.
8. A universal alien transmitter whatching our rover.
9. A martians belt buckle fell off.
10. Bill Gates extra change.
I don't doubt that the shiny object might be Gold...
Interesting that they haven't picked up the object and analyzed it. The equipment on this new vehicle has the capability to figure out exactly what it is made of.
I was wondering about that too. So they just sent up another motorized camera that will simply create more questions so we have to spend the money to send up yet another rover that can analyze the shiny things? Don't we have enough 20-something, materialistic women on this planet who can do the job cheaper?
Looks like a piece of popcorn. Probably the location was the county fairgrounds for the Martians at one time...
The Mars Rover found its keys!
They're the old school beer/soda can pull tabs.
Maybe its gold. There now.....start the rush.
We could tell a crow or raven and then check his nest in a few days.
I'm guessing that the shiny speck is probably just a shiny particle of silica. Silicone is in all soils. It is in Earth, Mars or in any other terrestrial planet.
It is gold placed there by the Mayans, so we would find it this year! LOL
gum wrapper, it's obvious
I think it is alien Poop!
If it's diamonds De Beers will be the first private company with a manned mission to Mars.
I kid you not.
Actually, it's probably something falling off the Mars rover.
THOSE COULD BE HERSEY'S ALMOND KISSES, SIGNAFIDE BY THE GOLD WRAPPER, POSSIBLY PLACED THERE BY THAT ROVER THINGY, SO THAT A VERY PROFITABLE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS CAN BEGIN.
WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?
I don't know but someone at NASA it was Martian poop and, therefore, proof of live on Mars!
Rocks aren't shiny on mars?
"Rocks" aren't shinny on earth either. Crystals, gems, silica are and until now have not been seen on mars. It not so much that it's shinny, it how. How is it not covered in dust, how was it formed, etc... Odd find, very curious what it turns out to be.