Also called heiligenschein when seen at a close distance.

You're close, it's water drops or if chilly, could be ice crystals rather on the surface of the blades of same vegetation.

A a german word, but yes it sound right "Heiligenschein" though I rather think of holy or saintly light, also that ring over the head in religious depictions.

Sol 4209 pancam anaglyph:
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Notice the dark streaks in the left center of the image. They were also visible on this image, taken on sol 4201. I wouldn't stick out my neck too much, but visually, they bear some similarity to RSLs (recurring slope lineae).

We've seen such streaks in many MSL photos. I'm more inclined to think that they are miniature "landslides" of the darker martian sand that sits underneath the lighter reddish coating of iron oxide dust.

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wildespace, it is very obvious, in your image, that the streak results from a "mini-landslide" of fine-grained material. On the other hand, in the Opportunity image, the streak seems to originate from the rock. There doesn't seem to be a source of fine-grained material nearby to account for it (not obvious to me, anyway). I hope we will get a closer look soon.

It looks to me like there's a source above one of the streaks, circled:
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Some material has accumulated in a precarious spot on the rock face and some of it has collapsed away and spilled lower down to form the streak. Similar sources for the other streaks could easily be hidden by the rocks.

A.J.S Rayl has released another report on Opportunity.

http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-top...sure-trove.html

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 4201.

Jan van Driel

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Sol 4215-4217 Lpancam montage:
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(notice the dark streak that seems to come out of the rock in the upper left side of the image)

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An isolated occurrence of newberries? Remnant of Matijevic formation?

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...PRP2372L2M1.JPG

I updated my montage with the images that just came down.
Sol 4215-4221 Lpancam:
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Here is my version of 'Private Richard Windsor'

An MI anaglyph from Sol4248

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Another A.J.S Rayl update provides a good start to Opportunity's new year in Marathon Valley.
http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-top...nniversary.html

Knudsen

sol4259 target anaglpyhs of 'Left' and 'Right' side separately, as i cant get ICE to competently stitch the 360 seam.
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This IS the stitch you are looking for


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Amazing that the RAT is still sharp all these years after landing (though I do recall that the Meridiani rocks are much softer than those Spirit encountered, so perhaps not)!

Patch of dark soil near us imaged on 4262:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...5M1.JPG?sol4262
I think it was material dropped from a wheel. You can see it as far back as 4223 where you can see tracks near by (at 11:00 from the dark streak):
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol4223
At the 4200-4205 location we were sitting with our RF wheel very close to the dark streak:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol4201
I'm guessing that's the wheel it came from.

MI closeups of the dropped soil tosol:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...2M1.JPG?sol4263
I forgot to add: To prove this was dumped by a wheel we should have images of that area before we first drove there on 4200. I looked but couldn't find any...

interesting pock-marked appearance on the surface of that likely dumped sand, though i dont recall seeing it in other dumped sands, perhaps a 'settling' effect not yet erased by wind action?
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Note the encrustations on the rock at the top that look similar to grains in the dark material, possibly eroding into the dark material. This would suggest the dark material has been around for a while.

[EDIT] Also observe the small white piece near the top that appears to have broken off and fallen onto the dark deposit. (Of course, the multiple RAT grinds nearby may have disturbed this area.)

A look in the rear view mirror seems to indicate that Oppy churned up a bit of dirt in transit so fredk's hypothesis of a wheel dump looks pretty good.
http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/all/1/r/4...U1P1311R0M1.JPG

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A closeup of the interaction between the sandy material and the host rock.

Just a hint: Today is Oppy twelfth! landing day 2004/01/25 - 2016/01/25... and no one celebrates ?

So: Oppy, best wishes from the earth! And just keep driving for the next twelve years! (This means 2028...)

Thanks for reminding me! its becoming routine passing such remarkably incredible milestones in this Oppy thread!!
speaking of stones.. very clear pictures last couple sols, here are anaglyphs lookiing down the hill on sol4266 and a closeup of that little prominent stone turret on sol4267.
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NW_ridge mosaic



MI mosaic of Joseph Collin with colour from Pancam image.

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Wider anaglyph view of the sol 4267 pancams:
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Reminds me of Lindbergh mound.

sol4270 navcams, it must be a good place here to maximize cleaning events, as erosion on the 'stair-step' set of rocks in the middle can attest, almost resembling a little cloudburst rivulet having cleared a path as it coursed down along the rock seams..
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Panorama taken with NavCam Left on sol 4271 at Knudsen Ridge, 15h05 local time. The sky was extended on Gimp.

sol4274 pano stitch anaglyph
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Closeup on Knudsen Ridge

My versions.

After a bit of a hiatus - which had me a bit concerned, I must say - Larry Crumpler's latest Field Report From Mars is posted here:

http://nmnaturalhistory.org/space-science/...ld-reports-mars

I like the way it begins:

"The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is still exploring Mars."

I would modify that slightly:

"The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is still exploring Mars."

Phil

Thanks for checking his page, ive been missing those.. He mentions "Opportunity will be leaving the valley [western valley] in this direction at the end of the winter."
So unless im turned around, it sounds like the plan is to go back up top (rather than continue down into the crater) ...perhaps to continue south along the ridge? anyone know if plans exist at this point?

<<<urp!! wrong thread.. meant to go in "Marathon Valley" of course>>> - Moved - Mod

From the captions: "Opportunity will be leaving the valley in this [western] direction at the end of winter". The possibility floated of going further down the slope is obviously no longer on the table so where to now? How do you top completing a marathon?

There's always Iazu crater, another marathon-distance roll to the south!

A couple new pancam images just came down for the Knudsen Ridge Pan. I'm really liking this place! Here is a false-color along with a false color overlaid onto a Navcam mosaic for context.

The view from Knudsen Ridge.

Watching time pass by on Mars.

Another false color preview of the Knudsen Ridge mosaic overlaid onto the Navcam pan.

Thanks James. Opportunity doesn't receive much attention of late despite the amazing view and your regular images are much appreciated.

The 'Angle of the Dangle' looks a tad precarious. But I do hope they keep expanding this pano.

I believe we have the makings of a 'Classic MER image that could grace the front cover of any publication about Mars... Thanks James

Knudsen Ridge!

Really beautiful Jame , I can not wait to see more . A seventh winter campaign worth a beautiful panorama to document the website ....
_____________________________________________

Vraiment très beau Jame, j'ai vraiment hâte de voir la suite. Une septième campagne hivernale vaut bien un beau panorama pour documenter la site ....

And a Stereo view of Knudsen Ridge. I'm going to be working on a 3D model using the pancam images.

Stunning mosaics, James.

Clouds drifting by on 4294:
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As usual, I haven't properly flatfielded - I just subtracted the average of the frames. So there are many artifacts. Eg, the bright patches on the left side turning dark in the later frames - this is due to the average being too bright there and hence subtracting too dark when the bright patches subside. But the overall trend of movement should be accurate.

MI anag/xeye views from sol4297
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A couple of PanCam L257 images from Sol 4302



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The fragment in the first image looks different to the surrounding rocks, it's certainly larger, darker and angular, a meteorite fragment?

Not a great image, but why not an unaltered basaltic lava fragment, ejected from a relatively recent meteorite impact elsewhere? The rocks around it were presumably brecciated and vitrified by an ancient impact, and then subsurface aqueous fluids partly altered the the unstable basaltic glass to clay minerals (devitrified it), so they would look different, even if their bulk chemical composition is similar.