Strange bright light coming out of Mars

[ksen]

I thought a tennis ball fell off the rover.

 

[whichphilosophy]

NASA did provide some explanations as given in the article itself

In the two right-eye images, the spot is in different locations of the image frame, and, in both cases, at the ground surface level in front of a crater rim on the horizon, Justin Maki, a NASA imaging scientist said April 8 by email through a spokesman.

"One possibility is that the light is the glint from a rock surface reflecting the sun," Maki said in the statement. "When these images were taken each day, the sun was in the same direction as the bright spot, west-northwest from the rover, and relatively low in the sky."

Another possibility is that the bright spots are sunlight reaching the camera's image sensor through a vent hole in the camera housing, which has happened before with Curiosity and other Mars rovers, the agency said.

"We think it's either a vent-hole light or a glinty rock," Maki said in the emailed statement. Another possibility is that it's a cosmic ray striking the camera's detector, he added.

Before NASA offered a suggestion of what might be the source of the bright spots, bloggers and space enthusiasts started chiming in.

 

[RavenSky]

Is "glinty rock" a new scientific term?

 

[Speakpigeon]

A NASA camera on Mars has captured what appears to be artificial light emanating outward from the planet's surface.

Official from the Andromeda galaxy embassy on Mars: "A trainee mechanic forgot to draw the shades before doing a routing test of the Galactica XXXIII's hyperdrive unit. Sooorry."
EB

 

[Speakpigeon]

our pitiful noisy and trashy civilization.

You've noticed too?
Ach.
EB

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Now that the comet is safely past did they turn off their lighthouse?

 

[DBT]

Interesting layers, shapes and textures.

 

[DBT]

A close up of the smooth triangular rock;

 

[Elixir]