4 ms·

That photo was taken from one of the navcams. Fortunately, the navcams come in pairs. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/0

That photo was taken from one of the navcams. Fortunately, the navcams come in pairs. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/00589/opgs/edr/ncam/NRB_449790582EDR_F0310000NCAM00262M_.JPG http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/... http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/00589/opgs/edr/ncam/NLB_449790582EDR_F0310000NCAM00262M_.JPG http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/... Notice the blip is in only one cam image. That pretty strongly suggests it's a camera artefact and not something real on mars.

madlag 13y ago
It's usual for CCD sensors in space to have such artifacts, due to energetic particles. It's true for a camera on Mars too, as the atmosphere is way too thin to protect from solar particles. http://www.eso.org/~ohainaut/ccd/CCD_artifacts.html http://www.eso.org/~ohainaut/ccd/CCD_artifacts.html
zamalek 13y ago
Could have also been something as benign as a dust plume. Still, it's far more likely it's an artifact.