Astronomy Picture of the Day - powered by LUNEXIT.IT

We have (as much as you certainly did) heard and read very many informed opinions about the strange-looking Spherules that seem to cover each and every spot (i.e.: Craters, Hollows, Plain Areas et cetera) of that portion of Meridiani Planum that has so far been visited by the NASA - Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity. But, as a matter of fact, only the Lunar Explorer Italian Foundation (or Lunexit) and the Italian Planetary Society (or IPF), after more than seven years spent analyzing ALL the frames that arrived from Mars, have - so far and as far as we know - speculated about their possble "organic" nature (it has to be said, also, that the impressive work carried out by Lunexit and IPF "inspired" - let's just use this expression... - the work of two Italian Researchers which, in an Abstract of about one and a half years ago, have come to the conclusion that MAYBE these Spherules could actually be the evidence of some kind of Indigenous Lifeform that is still inhabiting the Red Planet.

Fantasy? We do not think so. But, as we said yesterday, this subject, which is controversial by definition, deserves to be discussed - with all our findings made available to the General Public - in a more appropriate way. On this daily page, the APOD, we just want to give you some "food for thoughts" that is good enough to both interest and inspire you. The hard data and subsequent considerations will follow, in the future.

This frame has been colorized in Natural Colors by (such as the colors that a perfect human eye would actually perceive if someone were near the NASA - Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity and then looked down, towards the Surface), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.