I am holding a rock from Mars - a photo on Flickriver

Today my son and I went to see our rocket launch buddy Steve Jurvetson at Future Ventures in Los Altos, California. He turned his venture capital office into a space museum, which more than doubled in size since I took a video a year ago. Today I took take two, I'll post the video later on YouTube.

Besides space artifacts from Gemini to Apollo to SpaceX, Steve also collects rocks from outer space. I am holding a Mars rock in my hand! How cool is that?

How did it get to Earth? A big meteor crashes into Mars, which jettisons rocks into space. Some fall back onto Mars, some orbit around the sun. And this rock got caught by the gravity of Earth and hit the ground. Imagine the odds of this happening! This rock is more rare than diamonds.

How can they verify that this rock is really from Mars? Mars rovers analyzed rocks, and sent the data back to Earth. Each celestial object has a typical signature of elemental and isotopic composition, and this rock is a match for Mars. In addition, Mars landers and rovers measured the composition of gases in the atmosphere. This rock has gases trapped in tiny holes, which match the atmosphere of Mars.

See Steve's notes on his Mars rock: flic.kr/p/Dyq6AX

I processed a photographic and a realistic HDR photo from a RAW exposure, blended them, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

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-- ƒ/4.0, 50 mm, 1/25 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-50F18, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC7375_hdr1pho1rea1c.jpg
-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

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Taken in: United States / California / Los Altos (show map)

Taken on: March 29, 2021

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Camera: Sony ILCE-6000, f/4.0, 1/25 sec, 50mm (=75mm), ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony ILCE-6000
Lens:	Sony E 50mm F1.8 OSS
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.04 sec (1/25)
Focal Length:	50mm (35mm equivalent: 75mm)
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto bracket
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Pixelmator 3.8.6
Show full info

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