Originally posted by qonone
I am no fundi on jpegs but all these looks like glitches. Anything on the exposures could have gone wrong while sending it back. The "object" changing angles is really weird though, and this one got my attention.
Someone on ATS will know how to explain this. Nice find!
Originally posted by internos
There's a problem with the image in the OP, lol
in according to this image,
the parachute is roughly located between 155 and 160 ° relatively to the lander.
But in according to this one,
the object in the op (allegedly the Heat Shield) would be located between 358 and 359 °.
This would mean that in this image, the location of the object of the OP would be (approx.) in the direction indicated by the green arrow, while the impact point (and the Heat Shield) would be (approx.) in the direction indicated by the red one:
so, basically, if what we see in the OP is the Heat Shield, then it's NOT where it is supposed to be,also in according to THIS image, taken straight from NASA website:
This enhanced-color image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera shows the Phoenix landing area viewed from orbit. The spacecraft appears more blue than it would in reality.
Labels point to the lander with its solar panels deployed on the Martian surface, the heat shield and bounce mark it made on the Martian surface, and the top of the Phoenix parachute attached to the bottom of the back shell.
Now i'm baffled: if the object in the OP is the Heat Shield, then Nasa scientists are wrong (and i don't think they are).
But if they are right, then the object in the OP is neither the Heat Shield nor the Backshield with parachute.
So, what is it?
I've also found an article, on New Scientist Space
In one image, the lander's backshell can readily be identified resting on the surface about 300 metres away (scroll down for image). This means a strange linear feature seen in another picture (taken in the opposite direction right after Phoenix landed) cannot be the backshell.
It may be nothing more than an artefact of the image, though scientists will eventually turn the camera back that way to check.