Mars Rover Gets Up-Close and Personal With Meteorite

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A stunning new photo yields anup-close view of a Mars meteoritediscovered by NASA's Opportunity rover while exploring the Red Planet.

The iron meteorite, called OleanRuiadh, is the sixthspace rock Opportunity has found on Mars since it firststarted exploring theplanet in 2004. The rover's cameras first picked up the meteorite Sept.16.

Scientists christened the meteoriteOlean Ruiadh in honor ofthe Gaelic name for an island off the coast of Ireland.

Opportunity took this new photo withits panoramic cameraSept. 24. The rover stuck with the rock for a few days, inspecting itstextureand composition.

Opportunity departed the meteoritesite Sept. 28, resumingits longtrek toward Endeavour Crater, which is still about 6 miles(10 kilometers)away.

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
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