[meteorite-list] Meteor Observed By Mars Rover

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html

Mars Mystery Solved!
Leonard David
space.com
June 28, 2004

Of the many intriguing observations taken by the Mars rovers, one of 
the most interesting was not of the surrounding geology. Rather, it 
was an image of the martian atmosphere. Caught in action was 
something streaking through the sky.

At first, Mars scientists operating the rovers thought the fast 
moving, caught-on-camera curiosity was a spacecraft -- perhaps an 
aging Viking Orbiter still circling the red planet.

"The initial thought was that little streak in the sky was an old 
relic spacecraft. There's a lot of junk in orbit around Mars,"
said Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and 
principal investigator for the Athena science payload toted on each 
of the Mars rovers.
 
But a research group in France came up with the real story, Squyres 
reported at the American Astronomical Society meeting held earlier 
this month. The study group took a look at predicted times and 
radiance for meteor showers at Mars. Turns out, the Spirit rover 
image was snapped during one of those showers, he said.

"The orientation of the streak in the sky matches the radiant for 
that shower to within a fraction of a degree. So we've seen a 
martian meteor," Squyres said.