Farewell, Mackinac…

Opportunity has now sped away from “Mackinac”, the meteorite she’s been examining for a few sols, and is now heading west, towards what looks like a rather interesting crater. But before she departed for dunes new, Oppy took, and sent back, some final – rather stunning – pictures of her latest meteoric friend. I’ve been working on them, and here they are.  (Don’t forget that clicking on an image will bring up a full size version).

First of all, a view of “Mackinac” from the side…

And here’s that same view, but in 3D this time…

But my favourite view of the whole Mackinac “encounter” has to be this one. I was literally left speechless when I saw it come to life on my monitor, earlier today…

Isn’t that just stunning?!?! The 3D version makes it even more impressive…

Look at the amazing shapes that poor, poor meteorite has been contorted and twisted into after all these years! Let’s take a closer look at that front area…

You’re all going to laugh at me – no change there then, haha! – but I found making these images of Mackinac quite moving. We were the first people to see this meteorite… ever… and it was like a piece of martian modern art, some kind of abstract sculpture… Looking at it it reminded me of one of those space art paintings showing the rusted, ruined hulk of a crashed starship sitting on a planet’s surface, long since abandoned by its crew and left to the mercy of the elements.

I know, it’s just a hunka metal, but how many aeons did it take Mars’ dust-laden, hissing wind to turn it into this beautiful, beautiful cosmic carcass? At times like this, when we see something like this, I’m left in awe of the sheer beauty of Mars.

So, that’s it, Mackinac is now far behind Oppy, and other, new, wonders await. Bye little guy, take care… Strange to think that the next people to see you will probably be native martians, sent out into the Meridiani desert to collect up all the meteorites Opportunity found and bring them back to the Museum of Mars, where they’ll be put on display for everyone to see, alongside ancient spaceprobes, famous rocks, and the flag planted in the dirt by the first manned expedition. 🙂