Oppy's New Meteorite Find (in 3-D!)

By Nancy Atkinson - September 22, 2010 at 5:58 AM UTC | Planetary Science
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The Opportunity rover has done it again -- found another strange-looking rock sitting on Meridiani Planum, and it looks like another meteorite. "The dark color, rounded texture and the way it is perched on the surface all make it look like an iron meteorite," said Matt Golombek from the MER science team. Unofficially named "Oileán Ruaidh" (pronounced ay-lan ruah), which is the Gaelic name (translated: Red Island) for an island off the coast of northwestern Ireland. The rock is about the size of a toaster: 45 centimeters (18 inches) wide from the angle at which it was first seen. Stu Atkinson has posted some enhanced images of the rock on his website,

Road to Endeavour,

which I have nabbed and posted here. Thanks Stu! The 3-D version above looks awesome with the red/green glasses. And look for more detailed images of the rock on his site soon, as Opportunity comes in for a closer look.

UPDATE:

As promised, Stu has provided an enhanced close-up of this rock, below.

[caption id="attachment_74253" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Close up of a rock on Mars, possibly another meteorite. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell, enhanced by Stu Atkinson"]

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Here's an extreme close-up of Oileán Ruaidh, and it certainly has that "iron meteorite" look about it. It almost looks like the head of a craggy old snapping turtle!

[caption id="attachment_74219" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Opportunity's panoramic camera's view of a dark rock that may be an iron meteorite. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University, enhanced by Stuart Atkinson"]

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Read more about the rock at

JPL's website.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com