Volcanic Bumpy Boulder on Mars
影像提供: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
Explanation:
What created this unusually textured rock on Mars? Most probably: a volcano. Dubbed Bumpy Boulder, the strange stone measuring just under a half-meter high was found by the robotic Spirit rover currently rolling across Mars. Pits on the ragged rock are likely vesicles and arise from hot gas bubbling out of hot rock ejected by an active Martian volcano. Several similar rocks are visible near Bumpy Boulder that likely have a similar past. The above true-color image was taken about one month ago. The Spirit rover, now in its third year of operation on Mars, is weathering the low sunlight winter of Mar's northern hemisphere on a hillside slope in order to maximize the amount of absorbable battery-refreshing sunlight.
說明:
火星上這些具有不尋常紋路的岩石是怎麼產生的？最可能的來源是火山。這些被戲稱是顛簸石塊的奇特岩石，高度略低於半公尺，是由正在火星上漫遊的精神號探測車所發現的。這些石塊上的坑洞很可能是氣泡室，是氣體從活躍火星火山的熾熱岩石湧出時所留下的。在顛簸石塊區附近有數群類似的石塊區，它們可能都擁有相似的歷史。上面這幅真色影像是在一個月前拍攝的。邁入火星第三年任務期的精神號探測車，正停泊在火星北半球的一處山坡上，目的是要吸收最大量可用來補充電瓶的陽光，以安渡火星北半球冬季的低日照期。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
