October 9th, 2009
Here Be Dragons on Mars!
Written by Nancy Atkinson
Image from Opportunity's Panoramic camera on sol 2029. Credit: NASA/JPL, colorized and annoted by Stu Atkinson
Oh no! Hopefully the same folks who went nuts over the Bigfoot on Mars don't see this one! Could there really be a dragon on Mars? Relax, its just a shadow from Opportunity's camera mast, distorted by the unusual and bumpy fusion crust surface of the Shelter Island meteorite that the Mars rover has been studying the past few days. But it seems rather fitting: "Here Be Dragons" is a phrase used to denote unexplored territories, and that is certainly where Oppy and Spirit are in their explorations of Mars.
Thanks to Stu Atkinson for the colorized version of this rover image.
Filed under: Mars
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October 9th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
That's Cool. Does it make "Thunder" sounds.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Dragons on Mars? Ridiculous! Everyone knows dragons need an atmosphere containing oxygen in order to breathe fire. And besides, spectroscopic data suggests Mars is severely deficient in damsels, which are dragons' major food source.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Dragons must have built the pyramids on both earth and mars…it's all so clear now.
October 10th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Pardon me, but I think it's a fabulous idea as our dear rovers DO "drag-on" over that planet, looong after they were supposed to be "extinct?
October 10th, 2009 at 4:35 am
This is what happens when you spend too long indoors staring at Rover photos.
October 10th, 2009 at 11:57 am
kootstar: For that comment, I believe you should win three internets. =D
October 10th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
This is another sick joke to divert attention from real questionable items, while NASA does not want to enhance any picture that now can be so easily unblurred with the equipment they have.
Once they published a picture of "round rocks" amd when it was enhanced showing wheels, a cleared picture was shown showing it was a rover's wheel. Another sick joke, like this. Who are they fooling with this ridiculous picture apparently taken for a purpose, to discredit any kind of analysis of all the Martian rocks, not pareidolia causing, which they are happy to encourage..
October 10th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
@Rolfuhig2:
Huh???????
October 11th, 2009 at 5:37 am
Huh??? That is what I said, too. This "rock" may have some interesting features from which the dragon idea serves as a distraction. This picture cries out for a nice enhancement, without the "shadow".
October 11th, 2009 at 5:48 am
Every time you see a distracting pareidolia that activate the vivid imagination of some, there is a real questionable object nearby, like the skull, distracting the attention fom the hexagon… or the couch from theobjects that were covered by a crude pasting that mutilated a photo complete in its original.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Nexus… your statement, "Everyone knows dragons need an atmosphere containing oxygen in order to breathe fire." is wrong.
Dragons not only produce methane but also a combination of hydroxides as part of their metabolism. When traveling in space, dragons simply grind their piezoelectric teeth together creating a spark, which then ignites the regurgitated gases in the primary esophagus. Those gases are then constricted and accelerated in the upper sinus cavities, creating substantial amount of exhaust thrust in the process.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
This goes a long way into explaning why Dragons have a secondary brain located in the tip of their tails. Since they fly 'arse backwards' the secondary brain and its associated neuralmetric sensor lines/arrays, on both sides of the tail itself, then sends signals to the primary at near light speed thru its superconducting neurons.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
THAT's why most dragon slayers choose to sever the end of the tail during initial combat. A Dragon that can't fly is NOT a happy Dragon and will often loose control of their higher senses due to their rage and are then easier to slay.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:32 am
What in God's name are you banging on about Rolfruhig2?
You are not making the, how you say? Sense.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:23 am
That is Earth dragons. Pern dragons have evolved teleportation by technomagic. If you go for pure magic, some Disc World dragons fly by farting the flaming gases, giving a totally new meaning to "fly by the seat of your pants".
October 12th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Dragons also have the ability to partially inflate their wings with hydrogen gas. This lightens them and allows them to soar much higher into the upper atmosphere where theyseek out and encounter jet streams. They use the jet streams to gain further altitude and speed prior to traveling into space.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:27 am
HOPEFULLY humanity will never experience another swarm of Dragons…
October 12th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Hydrogen which of course, they harvest from solar wind protons hitting their hides.
October 12th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Please check this photo with color stressing the strange items found on, and in that rock. Then tell me it is not a distracting tactic to call the shadows on it dragons. Please.
http://www.r1313.info/marsjoke.jpg
October 12th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Wow – a super-over-processed image showing a crap-load of processing artifacts (alien artifacts?!) – I haven't seen anything like it since, well, my little sister and I used to play with MS Paint..
Keep digging Rolfruhig2; those conspiratorial NASA bastards will be exposed eventually…
October 13th, 2009 at 5:54 am
There is no one blinder than one who refuses to see. There was not over processed image, but the original. All it was added to that overprocessed image was color to stressed a lot of small questionable item. Once you point out something like this, you get some educated nincompoop on your throught. I am not claiming any conspiracy, but lack of professional behavior by refusing to publish well enhanced, clear pictures. Nasa can do this. They have the best computers on earth to do it. Why do not they do it beats me.
October 13th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Any half-witted kid today can removed colors from the photo easily. Then you can see the original, with no need for raw sarcasm.
An adult with a frozen mind cannot. I respect NASA's work. But somehow a layer of people in public relations has been doing a very poor job not publishing enhancements of questionable items, thus creating suspicion. And in other cases clearly altering, cutting and pasting some important pictures.