Mars Fossils, The Curator's Cabinet

This page is a meant to be a record of some sightings and images sent to me by readers of my main Mars fossils page. It was a great pleasure and privilege to correspond with the many people who sent in challenging and intelligent comments about my page. Many also attached images of features they thought might be fossils as well. Some of these were doubtful or for different reasons not really suitable for my main page. Still, I thought it would be useful to have a record of them.

So, imagine the Cydonian Museum of Mars Fossils with a public display out front. Those are the main pages. In the back room is the secret headquarters for the Cydonian Mars Fossils Study Group. Although we pride ourselves on having a good eye for these things, it must be admitted that some of our findings are not up to the high standards set by some of the others. On this page you are looking through the special long-term storage cabinets in this backroom. The curator rarely shows these specimens - and then only to special friends and very learned visitors for their comments.

My apologies, therefore, if the page starts to fall apart at the bottom and becomes, quite literally, a long-term storage facility for dubious Mars images. Some images here were actually retrieved from the heap of Mars image debris piled outside my study window where, after careful consideration and rejection, hopelessly these dubious specimens were tossed inceremoniously.

I wouldn't dismiss all of them completely, however. There are a few solid "maybe's" in there. You, the reader, will have to decide.

I encourage browsers to send in any remarkable images they might have. I prefer links to attachments because my Canada.com email account is already close to being full. Please send along the sol and rover name.

Best regards,

Michael
marsfossils@canada.com
Many thanks to the Gray Masters on Mothership for supporting this project.

An exo-cephalopod from outside Endurance Crater: Opportunity :: Sol 125. 3 mm long. Probably it is a nothing. /1/m/125/1M139280441EFF2829P2956M2M1.
Dubio-trilobite #1: Opportunity sol 80. /1/m/080/1M135286086EFF10CGP2956M2M1 Certainly a fine example of something -- although maybe just of light and shadows. Mars fossils amateurs dream of finding something like this. The wet period on Mars wasn't that long and it is doubtful that there was time for trilobites, that only appeared on Earth in the Cambrian 500 million years ago, to have time to evolve. Hopefully, if it is something which is not being claimed conclusively, another one with more details and better focus will appear shortly. Go look at the NASA image. It really catches the eye.
Dubio-trilobite #2: From "Bounce". Some people think this is a trilobite. It is not a trilobite. Maybe ripple marks. Maybe. Opportunity press release photo -- April 14, 2004.
Not a Trilobite: I got a few emails about this feature asking if it was a new type of fossil. It is more likely the base of a spherule still cemented into the rock. The top of the spherule has eroded away. The scalloped edges are something new. Opportunity sol 105. /1/m/105/1M137504929EFF2208P2936M2M1.
The Oyster: Opportunity sol 069. /1/m/069/1M134320555EFF08AYP2956M2M1.   Alessio Feltri, an Italian architect, sends this mineralogically very busy view of rock "Bounce" to our attention. He suggests that there might be a shell or oyster hidden in its layers and that the streaming flowing strands below might have a biological origin. See also /1/m/065/1M133955963EFF08AQP2936M2M1 and Opp Sol 65 Bounce -- Public Release for other views of Bounce. Alessio was also interviewed for an Italian space net magazine in an article called Pilbara's Mystery. about the Mars rock Pilbara with all the golf tee stalks spherules sticking from it.
Four objects from Opportunity Sol 106: From top left clockwise. A weird something hiding in the shadows. A bit of disintegrating sediment. A piece of sediment that at one time held two spherules close enough together to kiss. A dimpled spherule with lines radiating from the dimple. /1/m/106/1M137593860EFF2208P2956M2M1.
Early Martian Fishing Lure: Yet another robust proof that there was water here once. Opportunity sol 105. /1/m/105/1M137503553EFF2208P2956M2M1.   You can't take yourself too seriously in this Mars fossils business. Otherwise you will just go crackers.
Little Baby Spiral Oddity: It is probably a nothing. I borrowed it from the Extrasense site. The terrain is quite unusual for Opportunity. /1/p/057/1P133243240ESF0700P2279L7M1.