Two Types of Round Pebbles in 'Endurance'

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is examining a type of rougher-textured, lighter-colored round pebbles that appear to be related to the smoother, darker spherules nicknamed "blueberries." The rover has found blueberries, which are actually gray, to be plentiful in Mars' Meridiani Planum region.

This is a false-color composite image taken with the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera. It shows part of a rock called "Bylot" in the "Axel Heiberg" outcrop area low inside "Endurance Crater." A mixture of blueberries and the lighter-colored spherules, nicknamed "popcorn," lie on top of the rock. The image shows what appear to be, based on color, partially exposed blueberries inside popcorn spherules. Also visible are several irregular, gray fragments that may be pieces of blueberries scattered over the sand at the bottom of the image. The yellow box in Figure 1 above indicates the portion of this view covered in an image mosaic from the rover's microscopic imager (see PIA06778).

This image was generated using the camera's 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters. It was taken on sol 197 (Aug. 13, 2004).