PIA05557: It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a... Spacecraft?
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- Original Caption Released with Image:
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Observing the sky with the green filter of it panoramic camera, the Mars
Exploration Rover Spirit came across a surprise: a streak across the sky.
The streak, seen in the middle of this mosaic of images taken by the
navigation and panoramic cameras, was probably the brightest object in
the sky at the time. Scientists theorize that the mystery line could be
either a meteorite or one of seven out-of-commission spacecraft still
orbiting Mars. Because the object appeared to move 4 degrees of an arc
in 15 seconds it is probably not the Russian probes Mars 2, Mars 3,
Mars 5, or Phobos 2; or the American probes Mariner 9 or Viking 1.
That leaves Viking 2, which has a polar orbit that would fit with the
north-south orientation of the streak. In addition, only Viking 1 and
2 were left in orbits that could produce motion as fast as that seen by
Spirit. Said Mark Lemmon, a rover team member from Texas A&M University,
Texas, "Is this the first image of a meteor on Mars, or an image of a
spacecraft sent from another world during the dawn of our robotic space
exploration program? We may never know, but we are still looking for
clues."
The inset shows only the panoramic image of the streak.
- Image Credit:
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NASA/JPL/Cornell
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