Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Can you please identify this mineral?
It's in this image, a shiny / pearly object in the lower left portion of the image: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/00132...
The image is taken on Mars by the Curiosity rover. Could it be quartz?
Source of the image: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=132...
4 Answers
- 8 years agoFavorite Answer
probably quartz
but it coudl be lots of other things too
Martian geology is slightly different than earth's geology and other minerals may be more common there
Source(s): .. - LoudLv 48 years ago
It may be quartz but there is a good chance that it may not be. Remember this is a picture from a mineral on Mars which is, as of March 03, 2012, 62.6 million miles from Earth (because of the elliptical orbits of Earth and Mars, the distance between the two planets are always changing).
However Earth and Mars are both rocky, relatively the same size and shape, contain water (though mars has only trace amounts), they both have atmospheres, are relatively close to the sun so there are similarities that may lead to similar or identical minerals.
Source(s): Cain, Fraser. "Distance from Earth to Mars." Universe Today RSS. Universe Today, 10 Aug. 2012. Web. 31 Dec. 2012. - asgspifsLv 78 years ago
I don't think they have identified free quartz on Mars. If they had, that would be extraordinary. It's more likely gypsum (something they have found on Mars).
- PaulaLv 78 years ago
Is it a piece of melted metal from the lander ?
The rocket motors shed small bits of aluminum.
see this article :