I want to post a picture of a Mars rock. It has to be a pyramidal rock. Luckily, there is a picture of a pyramidal rock at NASA.
[robotic voice] “Look at this glorious picture of a pyramidal rock on Mars. I am such a geek.”
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Hahahahahahahahahaha
22 comments
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Ophelia Benson
October 15, 2012 at 5:12 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Actually I really do like pictures of rocks on Mars, but I’m also having a little joke.
Rodney Nelson
October 15, 2012 at 5:36 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Are you going to let others into the joke?
Emily Isalwaysright
October 15, 2012 at 7:02 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Perhaps you have also been having a little smoke?
Artor
October 15, 2012 at 7:11 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’m actually curious as to the composition of that rock. What formed the smooth layer on the bottom? Is that a sedimentary layer that might suggest lots of water? Or is it an obsidian shell over basaltic rock?
Hunt
October 15, 2012 at 7:21 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
No, the smooth layer is some kind of polymer glue. This is obviously a tile off the heat shield of an alien spacecraft.
Badland
October 15, 2012 at 7:28 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Artor, the rock looks basaltic to me. At a guess the smooth layer is a flow-top chill margin. Shall hie me off to the interwebs and find out what the official diagnosis is.
Ps Ophelia: I want some of what you’re on
Die Anyway
October 15, 2012 at 9:03 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
hmmm…. It’s the same color as my car. That must mean something profound.
And up there in the top left corner, is that Jesus I see?
machintelligence
October 15, 2012 at 9:59 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Artor @ 4
Here is the chemical analysis for the rock named Jake Matejevic.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gellert1.html
It does bear some resemblance to the pyramid cap with an eye on the great seal of the united States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Providence
It is sometimes called the eye of God as well, although some fundy sites call it a Satanic image.
If that is the joke it is a bit subtle for me.
roger ivanhart
October 15, 2012 at 11:43 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
The only thing shown by criticising non-scientists who find stories about science and scientific discoveries interesting and informative are the limitations in imagination and curiousity of those doing the criticising.
Courtney
October 16, 2012 at 5:16 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Artor @ 4:
And here’s a description by a geologist putting the released data on that rock in more layman’s terms: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/10120819-curiosity-sol65-petrology-jake.html
inquisitiveraven
October 16, 2012 at 5:32 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Lemme guess, it’s a reference to the Pyramids of Mars nonsense from the eighties.
embertine
October 16, 2012 at 6:06 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I particularly enjoy that the have indicated where they shot it with lasers and where they shot it with X-rays.
A Hermit
October 16, 2012 at 6:38 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Obviously it was built by the tiny alien predecessors of the Egyptians who emigrate to Earth after the great Martian disaster aeons ago…
I’ll bet if we take it’s dimensions and multiply them by some carefully chosen numerologically significant numbers they will match the proportions of the lottery booth in Umberto Eco’s “Foucault’s Pendulum…”
Seriously, that is a cool picture of a rock ON MARS!…reality is mind blowing…
robb
October 16, 2012 at 7:17 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
dang, so *that’s* where i left my rock.
Eamon Knight
October 16, 2012 at 7:25 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
According to the Beeb article I read the other day, Jake is actually a very interesting rock: the composition appears to resemble basalts formed at mid-ocean ridges (congealed from water-rich magmas).
A Hermit
October 16, 2012 at 9:03 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
robb @ 14 ftw…
Z
October 16, 2012 at 9:03 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Is this in any way related to Maddox’s rant against the “I fucking love science” Facebook group?
Acolyte of Sagan
October 16, 2012 at 10:58 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Anybody know why it’s so blue? I’ve just read the link supplied by Courtney @ #10 but there was nothing there – at least that I could see – that explained the vivid colouring. Could it be a Martian form of Lapis?
Reginald Selkirk
October 16, 2012 at 11:23 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
The blue is pretty mundane. The exciting bit is the bright red dots. Morse code spelled out in rubies?
Acolyte of Sagan
October 16, 2012 at 11:27 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
That’s just Martianese for “Stop firing lasers and x-rays at me if it’s not going to help the Earthling Acolyte of Sagan understand why I’m blue”.
Ophelia Benson
October 16, 2012 at 11:54 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
17, no, but close – other people doing a mini-rant of the same type. Sneering at non-scientists who express enthusiasm for science, because it’s just a pose, a “narrative of self” thing, trendy, fake – blah blah blah. Nasty stuff. How dare non-scientists be interested in science! Nasty, depressing, ugly stuff from people who should know better.
Acolyte of Sagan
October 16, 2012 at 12:28 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Ophelia, it’s the same people who oppose the ‘dumbing-down’ of science, as though their knowledge must somehow be kept a closely guarded secret. It’s merely a problem of egocentricism; the more us plebs know, the less god-like the arrogant bastards feel.