At 08:43:46 UTC the Mastcam Right shot for the third time this suggestive hillock of stratified rocks with the blue sky for background but this time slightly veiled!
I suggest you to compare this image with the two previous ones, that of Sol 2458 (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2291028767646970/) and that of Sol 2464 (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2300905249992655/).
Compared to the previous image there are further differences in the color of the rocks, while the angle of illumination (of the Sun) is the same.
So, if between the first and the second photo the big difference in the angle of illumination could have been partly the cause of the differences in the colors of the rocks, between the second and the third (this one!) the angle of illumination is practically the same, so the color differences in this case can only be attributed to physical-chemical alterations of the ground itself, alterations already observed in some shots of Opportunity (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/videos/1668518819897971/).
In your opinion what could cause such obvious changes in such a relatively short period of time?
The original image is a black and white encoding of the Bayer mask that has been converted to color through a process called “debayering” or “demosaicing”. In addition, the photo has undergone noise reduction due to Jpeg compression, white balance and a slight increase in microcontrast and color saturation in order to make the colors more similar to what the human eye would see.
Original image: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02484/mcam/2484MR0132030230504902C00_DXXX.jpg
This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.