¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 March 9 IFRAME: [2]https://mars.nasa.gov/layout/embed/image/mars-panorama/?id=25674 Perseverance 360: Unusual Rocks and the Search for Life on Mars Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JPL-Caltech, [5]ASU, [6]MSSS Explanation: Is that a [7]fossil? Looking through [8]recent images of Mars taken by the new [9]Perseverance rover may seem a bit like treasure hunting, with the possibility of fame coming to the first person to correctly identify a [10]petrified [11]bone, a rock imprinted by an [12]ancient plant, or any clear indication that life once existed on [13]Mars. Unfortunately, even though it is possible that something as spectacular as a skeleton could be identified, most [14]exobiologists think it much more likely that [15]biochemical remnants of ancient single-celled [16]microbes could be [17]found with [18]Perseverance's chemical analyzers. A [19]key reason is that [20]multicellular organisms may take a greater amount of [21]oxygen to evolve than has [22]ever been present on Mars. That said, [23]nobody's sure, so please feel free to digitally magnify any Perseverance image that interests you -- including the [24]featured 360-degree zoomable image of the rocks and ridges surrounding Perseverance's landing location in [25]Jezero Crater. And even though [26]NASA-affiliated scientists are themselves studying Perseverance's images, if you see anything [27]really unusual, please post it to [28]popular social media. If your sighting turns out to be [29]particularly intriguing, scientifically, it is likely that [30]NASA will hear about it. Tomorrow's picture: california spaced up __________________________________________________________________ [31]< | [32]Archive | [33]Submissions | [34]Index | [35]Search | [36]Calendar | [37]RSS | [38]Education | [39]About APOD | [40]Discuss | [41]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [42]Robert Nemiroff ([43]MTU) & [44]Jerry Bonnell ([45]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [46]Specific rights apply. [47]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [48]ASD at [49]NASA / [50]GSFC & [51]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://mars.nasa.gov/layout/embed/image/mars-panorama/?id=25674 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ 5. https://mastcamz.asu.edu/ 6. http://www.msss.com/ 7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6049883/ 8. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/ 9. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrifaction 11. https://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/fossil-did-i-find-fossil-bones.php 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil#/media/File:Lycopod_axis.jpg 13. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/ 14. https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/research/astrobiology-at-nasa/exobiology/ 15. https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8863/searching-for-life-in-nasas-perseverance-mars-samples/ 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microorganism 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180619.html 18. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/science/ 19. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31237436/ 20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicellular_organism 21. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019AsBio..19..811W/abstract 22. https://www.space.com/33296-mars-atmosphere-oxygen-curiosity-rover.html 23. https://www.sciencealert.com/this-is-the-first-known-animal-that-doesn-t-need-oxygen-to-survive 24. https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25674/perseverances-mastcam-z-first-high-resolution-panorama/ 25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jezero_(crater) 26. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/team/ 27. https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/09/04/08/24/cat-4451003_1280.jpg 28. https://www.facebook.com/nasamars/ 29. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/life-on-mars-78138144/ 30. https://science.nasa.gov/citizenscience 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210308.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 40. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210309 41. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210310.html 42. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 43. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 44. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 45. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 46. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 47. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 48. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 49. https://www.nasa.gov/ 50. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 51. http://www.mtu.edu/